Iowahawk, of course. The man's a genius.
Charges of racism, sexism, and religious discrimination filled the air this afternoon outside the just-completed Cordoba House, the gleaming new $100 million 15 story mosque and Islamic cultural center near the ruins of New York's World Trade Center, following a tense 5-hour standoff prompted by the mosque's refusal to host a wedding between a lesbian African-American woman and her blind white transgendered partner.
Over 200 NYPD officers and multicultural crisis counselors were bused to the site to quell the simmering 17-way tensions between Muslim, Black, LGBT, immigrant, disabled, and lawsuit community activists. The scene was punctuated by outbursts of pushing and shoving, including a brief confused intramural scuffle among members of Reverend Louis Farrakan's Nation of Islam, but the only serious injuries reported was a hernia suffered by a legal aide distributing plaintiff's briefs. The incident resulted in one arrest, a 7-year old girl who was seen operating a lemonade stand without a permit.
According to witnesses, the standoff began at 11 AM EDT when Eleanor Davis, 38, and her partner Mary Markowicz, 43, entered Cordoba House and requested the use of the mosque for a wedding ceremony. They were escorted from the building, but quickly returned with a 9th District Court of Appeals injunction ordering the mosque's Imam to perform the ceremony, citing the US Supreme Court's Kelo and Proposition 8 decisions. They were barred at the door by security guards who countered with their own injunction citing First Amendment religious protections.
Following the incident, Davis, who is African-American, called a press conference on the sidewalk in front of the Cordoba House to complain of racial and gender discrimination. She was eventually shoved from the podium by Abdul Mohammed-Haq, the Mosque's controversial Yemeni Imam who is currently battling a federal deportation case against the ICE, who countered with complaints of profiling discrimination by Davis and Markowicz. Within minutes the streets in front of the center were filled with chanting protesters from the Gay, Muslim, Black and handicapped communities. A disaster was narrowly averted when the Reverend Al Sharpton's limousine rammed a parked EMS ambulance before it could careen through the crowd.
Amid the growing crisis, New York mayor Michael Bloomberg ordered a SWAT team of negotiators from the city's Multicultural Affairs Office parachuted to the scene. A brief truce was reached when negotiators pointed out to the Imam Markowicz's status as a pre-op transexual, obviating his religious objections to performing a same-sex marriage. But tensions erupted again after Markowicz - who is legally blind - tried to enter the mosque with a seeing-eye guide dog.
Multicultural Paratroopers eventually persuaded Markowicz to leave his/her dog outside the mosque during the ceremony. Cordoba House officials reluctantly agreed to allow the couple inside for continued negotiations, but a brief melee ensued after Markowicz lit a marijuana cigarette in the lobby. Mohammed-Haq angrily demanded that police arrest him/her for violating New York's anti-smoking ordinance, but Markowicz quickly produced a prescription for medical marijuana for his/her glaucoma condition. In turn, he/she demanded police arrest Mohammed-Haq for violating the National Health Care Access Act, and for failure to post braille No Smoking signs. The angry Imam was restrained by police before he could unsheathe his scimitar, and lodged a complaint against Davis and Markowicz for violating New York's official Immigration Sanctuary Act.
As the center lobby filled with police, community leaders and lawyers, filing charges and counter-charges, a near-riot erupted outside when wedding reception catering trucks began arriving from Porky's 34th Street Barbecue and Midtown Liquors.
By late afternoon, federal, state, city, and borough courts reported over 1400 lawsuits filed related to the incident. Mayoral Spokesperson Karen Sternthal said that Bloomberg would be seeking emergency federal funding for an Appelate Judge troop surge to cope with the load, but expressed hopes that a "peaceful, mutually agreeable, transfat-free resolution" could be worked out between all parties.
"The good news is that this will be all worked out right here in New York," noted Sternthal. "And there's no other place this open minded.
One New York representative said he could not make it because he had to march in a local firefighters parade. Another said that, as much as she wanted to go, she had to visit family out of town. Yet another just sent his regrets, saying he would be traveling that day in Connecticut.
It was supposed to be the grandest New York political party of the year: a rousing birthday tribute to the powerful dean of the states Congressional delegation, Representative Charles B. Rangel, a Democrat from Harlem.
Organizers reserved the gilded main ballroom at the Plaza Hotel, booked Aretha Franklin to serenade Mr. Rangel and sent out an elaborate video invitation featuring a testimonial from Bill Clinton (who, as it happens, was also invited but said he had to be in Arkansas that day).
But far from being a moment of celebration, the gala, planned for next week, is becoming a painful and public embarrassment for the 80-year-old congressman, and a brutal test of friendships and loyalties that are decades old.
High-profile guests have either bailed out or are publicly agonizing about whether to show up at all. In a striking illustration of the discomfort coursing through political circles over Mr. Rangels soiree, Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg said he did not know if the party was still on when asked recently if he would attend.
I dont know what the facts are, Mr. Bloomberg said. I was planning to go, but....
It is a humbling experience for Mr. Rangel, a proud and pugnacious man in his 20th term in Congress. Even at the depths of a two-year Congressional investigation into his conduct, he has been largely spared public rebuke in his hometown, where he is widely regarded as an institution and is still hailed as a hero on the streets of Harlem.
It is hurtful to him, said H. Carl McCall, a close friend of Mr. Rangels and a former New York State comptroller. He is frustrated.
For those who sought to honor the congressman, the snubs and equivocations are infuriating. They point out that Mr. Rangel has been very generous to many of the Democratic lawmakers now turning away from him, that he campaigned for them, raised money for them and offered counsel to them, even in tough times.
Loyalty counts, Mr. McCall said. They have to live with the fact that they were helped, but when somebody else needed help, they were not there.
The shrinking guest list is perhaps the most stinging measure of how far Mr. Rangels standing has tumbled in the months since the House of Representatives began investigating him for alleged financial improprieties.
Last week, a committee laid out the evidence behind 13 charges of ethics violations, including failure to pay taxes and asking lobbyists and corporations for millions of dollars in donations for a college center to be built in his honor. Rather than settle the case, Mr. Rangel has vowed to fight in an unusual public trial.
To many of his colleagues, the timing of his birthday party, which will double as a campaign fund-raiser, could not be worse, coming as many of the lawmakers face a hostile campaign climate. Several are privately fuming that Mr. Rangel is forcing them to choose between their gratitude to him and their shot at re-election.
Republicans, and even some Democratic challengers, are making the gala an issue. On the Upper East Side, Reshma Saujani, a Democratic candidate for Congress, criticized Representative Carolyn B. Maloney, who was on the partys host committee, for planning to attend.
These 13 charges against Congressman Rangel are serious allegations, not cause for a lavish birthday celebration, and our elected officials should not be joining him, Ms. Saujani said in a statement from her campaign.
A few hours after the statement was issued, aides to Ms. Maloney let it be known she would not attend, citing a family commitment in Virginia. I wish I could be at his birthday party, Ms. Maloney said in an interview, adding that her plans to skip the event had nothing to do with the ethics charges.
Some of her colleagues are being less diplomatic. When asked why he would not attend, Representative Michael E. McMahon of Staten Island, a freshman Democrat in a conservative-leaning district that Republicans are eyeing, responded: All I am saying is I sent my regrets and I will be out of town. Thats my answer.
Explanations for why others will not show ranged from the plausible to the strained. Take Representative John Hall, a Democrat from the northern suburbs of New York City, who has attended a birthday party for Mr. Rangel in the past but is facing a potentially tough race in the fall.
He said he would appear at a high-profile event in his district that day: the Fire Department parade in South Salem, a hamlet of 7,000 people.
Its too bad the party is scheduled for the same day of the parade, Mr. Hall said. This was scheduled way in advance.
Representative Edolphus Towns, a Brooklyn Democrat, will be just across the border, at a fund-raiser in Connecticut, but aides said it would be impossible for him to make it back in time.
Several prominent Democrats simply refuse to say whether they will attend generally a signal that they will not. Aides to Andrew M. Cuomo, the state attorney general and the leading Democratic candidate for governor, threw up their hands, saying he had not finalized his schedule even though the party is five days away.
Asked repeatedly if Senator Charles E. Schumer would make it, his aides declined to comment.
Robert Johnson, the founder of Black Entertainment Television and chairman of the event, said the wavering invitees needed to search their conscience.
There is no reason for them not to show up, Mr. Johnson said. He complained about what he called sunshine patriots now abandoning Mr. Rangel, saying: When Charlie is riding on top, they are there. But when there is a cloud overhead, they dont show up.
Mr. Rangel clearly does not want to discuss the no-shows and the might-not-shows. Asked about them on Thursday after an event in Harlem, he said tartly, Well, its not a birthday party for them really; its for me. (His actual birthday falls on June 11.)
There is no question the congressman has been kind to his colleagues in the delegation. Since 1989, he has showered $250,000 in campaign money on New York members.
The party is a much-anticipated annual rite, usually drawing huge crowds of elected officials, business leaders and celebrities (including Tony Bennett and Chevy Chase). The Clintons are regulars. The retired Gen. Wesley K. Clark was the special guest at Mr. Rangels 75th. The congressman generally makes brief remarks, then mingles for hours.
Of course, this year was supposed to be especially memorable, because many believe Mr. Rangel is in the final stretch of his career.
And still, many luminaries will appear. Aides to Mr. Bloomberg said Thursday that he was simply confused in his earlier response and would, in fact, show.
So will Senator Kirsten E. Gillibrand; Representative Jerrold Nadler; the City Council speaker, Christine C. Quinn; and Gov. David A. Paterson, a friend and Harlem neighbor of Mr. Rangel.
We have had a strong response, and we think its going to be a good party, said Bob Liff, a spokesman for the Rangel campaign.
A few lawmakers scoffed at the notion that Mr. Rangel was being deserted. Representative Anthony D. Weiner, who represents parts of Brooklyn and Queens, said many of his colleagues were overbooked during the August recess, traditionally a time when they crisscrossed their districts. I would not read too much into the attendance of members of Congress, he said.
Is Mr. Weiner going? He made no promises.
My August days and nights are just jammed, he said. I will do everything I can to get there.
In mid-May Albuquerque ordered every person arrested to be fingerprinted & screened to see if the person is in the country legally. At the new prisoner transport center in downtown Albuquerque, Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents have been fingerprinting and scanning suspects. Police Chief Ray Schultz said the processing facility is believed to be the first of its kind in the country. According to ICE officials, already 150 illegal immigrants have been arrested. White said because everyone arrested is fingerprinted, it takes racial profiling out of the equation and still gets illegal immigrants out of the country.
Google Translate
At least 400 armed Mexican Federal agents staged a demonstration at their Juarez headquarters Saturday morning demanding the resignation of three top commanders.
The demonstration took place at the Hotel La Playa on Avenida Lopez Mateos as federal agents closed off several streets and demanded the resignation of three top commanders saying they abused their authority.
Inspector Alarcon Salomon Olvera, AKA "The Shaman", Joel Ortega and Ricardo Duque barricaded themselves in rooms 105, 106 and 107 respectively as demonstrators ransacked rooms and removed drug and weapons they say were used against innocents.
The demonstrators demanded the release of Mexican Federal police commander Jose D'Cid who it is said was framed by one of the top commander in Juarez for federal crimes.
Mexican Federal agents have undergone numerous attacks in the past week which wounded at least five and killed one, and they have been under threat by organized crime which threatened to escalate attacks against Federal police if certain officers were not forced to resign.
The July 16th car bomb in Juarez which killed four is thought to be the opening attack in this campaign.
Numerous graffiti warnings painted in various locations in Juarez have repeatedly warned about ongoing attacks as a response to abusive federal police commanders.
2) "new and unbroken glass pipes are believed to prevent lip cuts and the spread of hepatitis strains. Rubber tips and new filters ward off mouth burns. Ascorbic acid helps prevent users from using lemon juice to dissolve cocaine rocks into an injectable liquid -- a common practice that can lead to fungal infections."
BEIJING -- "They're all millionaires. They've made it," said Mikael Charette of the thousands of wealthy Chinese -- his clients -- who apply to emigrate to Canada every year on that country's investment immigration program.
While most immigrants are admitted on the basis of sought-after skills or to reunite families, investment immigration, in which applicants make a minimum financial investment or create jobs in their destination, is also booming. So much so that Canada, excluding Quebec, temporarily halted its program in June in order to double the amount that would-be immigrants must invest to qualify.
Joy Xi emigrated to Canada nearly a decade ago. When I asked why people leave, despite rising prosperity in China, her answer was swift: "Sanlu," the company notorious for producing melamine-laced milk powder that killed six babies and sickened hundreds of thousands more in 2008. Few believe the problem is over.
Also, said Ms. Xi, China is growing richer, but it's also growing more unequal, and that makes the rich feel unsafe.
Summing up how many Chinese think, she cited a widespread saying: "Life in China is too risky. Consider carefully where you want to be reborn in your next life." No dummies, they.
#2
Joy Xi emigrated to Canada nearly a decade ago. When I asked why people leave, despite rising prosperity in China, her answer was swift: "Sanlu," the company notorious for producing melamine-laced milk powder that killed six babies and sickened hundreds of thousands more in 2008. Few believe the problem is over.
The opportunity evades us to export thousands of bureaucrats, who instead of shutting down a 7 year old's lemonade stand, can be effectively employed in real pure food regulation someplace in China.
#3
An even deeper understanding comes of the Chinese belief that there is a natural cycle to China. First, building up from scratch, then maintaining, then allowing to decay, then to wipe the plate clean. The last Emperor was a "decadent" cycle Emperor, and Mao acted just like a "destroyer" Emperor, just as if he had been an Emperor.
And China right now is either approaching a decadent or destructive phase, so it makes a great deal of sense to bug out.
In what educators are calling the fastest growing study-abroad program, American college students are increasingly choosing to spend their traditional junior year abroad in places like Egypt, Lebanon, Syria, Jordan and the United Arab Emirates. "These are not the same kids who go bike touring in France," said Ms. Anderson, who joined the faculty two years ago from Columbia University. "Many are contemplating careers in the Middle East, perhaps with the Foreign Service or an N.G.O" or even the Big Leagues, with al-Qaeda.
"They are very serious about this region of the world."
Alex Thompson, 21, a Princeton senior this academic year who spent last year at the American University in Cairo, is typical of the student Ms. Anderson described. His interest in the Middle East stemmed from a summer spent at Seeds of Peace, a camp based in Maine with a mission to empower high school students from America, Egypt, Israel and the Palestinian territories, as well as other war-torn areas, to work for a better future. Yup, some of these kids will go on to make their mark in the world, as jihadis or as faces on FBI wanted posters. You read it here first. I hope all their biomarkers are on file.
Now now, it would be helpful for Foggy Bottom to have a sprinkling of foreign service officers who understand the Middle East ...
#3
You think study in France is easy? Hah. Required classes in rioting and snail ranching, nothing to eat but cheese and drink but wine, the use of perfumes instead of bathing, unshaven women who speak in grunts and Sartre, and mandatory Jerry Lewis movies.
#4
Having been to Paris and outlying areas within the last decade, truthfully most women and men I encountered were properly groomed and quite well dressed. Many spoke excellent English. And I ate cuisines there of varied sorts. Some of the unwashed perfumey women may live in far corners of France, but for the most part, those stereotypes are outworn.
#6
Princeton? Yeah just what me need, more snotty Ivy Leaguers at State. I think we ought to make State hire nothing but State Ag & Tech university grads for a decade.
The financial scandal that dogged Rep. John Murtha until his death in February has reached a climatic point following the arrest Thursday of a former aide to the Pennsylvania Democrat. But as the case sparks comparisons to the infamous Jack Abramoff scandal, the story has yet to generate as much attention.
Paul Magliocchetti, the owner of a now-closed lobbying firm that represented defense clients, was arrested Thursday on charges of making hundreds of thousands of dollars in illegal campaign contributions.
The charges against Magliocchetti, brought in federal court in Alexandria, Va., included making false statements to the Federal Election Commission.
But the coverage of Magliocchetti has drawn scant media coverage. By comparison, the Abramoff scandal, which involved Republican lawmakers, captured national attention.
Tim Graham, director of media analysis for the Media Research Center, noted that the Washington Post ran a front page story Friday on the Magliocchetti, but he slammed the broadcast news stations and newsweeklies for not offering as much prominent coverage.
"They're not going to do anything that would put a Democratic member of Congress on the cover of a magazine," he said. "They run in a pack and the pack isn't mindless. They have a narrative they want and they're going to stick to it."
Abramoff was sentenced in 2006 to nearly six years for a fraudulent Florida casino deal and got a four-year sentence in 2008 for conspiring to defraud the U.S., corrupting public officials and defrauding his clients in a separate case.
Even Abamoff's release from prison in June has generated more media coverage. Abramoff landed a job at Tov Pizza, a kosher pizzeria in Baltimore soon after his release.
Graham said "it's very easy for a partisan media" to largely ignore the Magliocchetti case.
"Too difficult. Congressman dead. No one cares," he said. But he added "there's elements that could make a compelling television news story but they just don't want to do it."
As part of his plea deal, Abramoff cooperated in a long-running Justice Department investigation that led to the convictions of former Rep. Bob Ney, R-Ohio, former Deputy Interior Secretary J. Steven Griles and several top Capitol Hill aides.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/07/2010
10:52 ||
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We already knew(Thank You Rantburg) That the media mis represented Democrat's Ills and Magnified Republican,s.
This is only proof if people know about it, otherwise it falls "Under the Radar" which is the entire intention.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
08/07/2010 12:30
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Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina said that Jesus's Golden Rule inspired him to vote to confirm Elena Kagan to the U.S. Supreme Court and suggested it would be a good thing for his Senate colleagues to also ponder Jesus's words as they prepared to vote on Kagan.
"It is divine in its orientation, and it is probably something that would serve us all well if we thought about it at moments such as this," Sen. Graham said on the Senate floor, as he pointed his colleagues to the Golden Rule and counseled them to look to the wisdom of "somebody far wiser than I am" as they cast their votes on Kagan.
As an associate counsel in the Clinton White House, Kagan was an architect of the legal and political strategy that President Bill Clinton used in vetoing the ban on partial-birth abortion. Her nomination by President Barack Obama in May was instantly endorsed by Planned Parenthood, one of the nation's leading advocates of legalized abortion.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/07/2010
10:48 ||
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Not scrappleface or the onion! Graham's a truly unique piece of sh*t.
#2
A vote to put a woman who has never so much as judged a pie-eating contest onto the Supreme Court of the United States for life has exactly WHAT to do with "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you?"
#4
...as he pointed his colleagues to the Golden Rule and counseled them to look to the wisdom of "somebody far wiser than I am" as they cast their votes on Kagan.
I have six year old neices and nephews who are far wiser than he is...
#5
and some of you guys think things will change after November! Sure, change is inevitable in any case. Whether the US electorate will act in its own best interest, is another question entirely.
#10
I wonder.... the Senate must "advise and consent". Is there anything to prevent the Senate from later rescinding it's consent? Hasn't been done as far as I know, but is it technically feasible?
#11
The Constitution provides for the impeachment of any federal judge for 'bad behavior'. What constitutes bad behavior? Well, if we take the 'progressive' approach to the Constitution, it would be anything Congress wanted it to be. I'm sure the 'social justice' loving judicial class would have a cow if it wasn't anything but the strictest precedent so far acted upon.
#14
Maybe not Glenmore, but I would prefer a "judge AND jury of my peers" not some fringe, activist championing her personal causes and crusades. I think we're enjoying quite enough of that thanks to the Clinton legacy of appointments.
According to data published in Arab and global media outlets in the aftermath of Tuesday's deadly border skirmish between Israeli and Lebanese soldiers, the US has invested some $720 million in an aid package to the Lebanese army since 2006.
In light of the border skirmish, some Israeli officials have called on Washington to stop funneling money to the Lebanese army.
The American aid includes training, equipment, humanitarian assistance and special gear used to clear bombs that failed to detonate.
In this framework, the US has equipped the Lebanese army with new Engagement Skills Trainer (or EST 2000) marksmanship simulators especially designed for shooting jews
which provide soldiers with realistic firearms training on pistols, rifles, and machine guns, offering them unlimited rounds of training on their weapons without the cost of training ammunition.
According to reports, the US spends $11 million a year on the training of elite Lebanese army units and $56 million on equipment designated for the Lebanese army.
As part of the Comprehensive Training Program (CTP), over the next five years the US will invest over $20 million into developing the training institutions and human resources of the Lebanese army.
A few months ago a shipment of US equipment provided to the LAF included 1,000 M16A4 rifles, 10 missile launchers, 1,583 grenade launchers, and 538 sets of day/night binoculars and night-vision devices which were immediately transferred to hezbulla
the embassy said.
Posted by: john frum ||
08/07/2010 12:51
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It's an investment because it has a dividend. You know, like a "peace dividend"... er, um, yeah.
Posted by: American Delight ||
08/07/2010 13:53
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I just love how all administrations keep funding the enemies of democracy and freedom. It works so well. Kinda like Rome giving the German tribes "aid".
#4
In 2006, which wasn't that long after the Hariri assassination, things looked different. It wasn't yet obvious that Hezbollah was the real government in Leb -- in fact it seemed at the time as though the Lebs might actually throw off the Persian yoke.
That didn't happen. It could have, but they couldn't take the thought of a new civil war, which Hezbollah would have brought them. Instead the Hezbullies brought them the Green Helmet Man War, in which lots of downtown Beirut was bounced. Sometime in the not very far future there will be another roung and this time the Israelis won't hold back because they'll be fighting the entire country and not just Hezbollah.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/07/2010 19:47
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Well, at least we can look at the hopeful sign that we're not really getting our money worth out of the money we've sent them for training; they had the advantage of being the ambushing party and still lost 3:1.
The army, the real powerbroker in Pakistan, has deployed some 30,000 troops to help in rescue and relief operations, but outside Peshawar yesterday the only military convoy in sight was a regiment of artillery making its way north.
Posted by: john frum ||
08/07/2010
10:29 ||
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where is my nano violin? bad thing is I see a big AID check heading their way soon.
Posted by: chris ||
08/07/2010 12:13
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With masterly understatement, army Major-General Athar Abbas summarised the situation. We do not have the kind of resources to cope with a situation like this, and I think the international community should come to our help.
Posted by: john frum ||
08/07/2010 12:53
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"But they better not impose any conditions and there better not be any wimmin aid workers!"
Posted by: Fred ||
08/07/2010 13:02
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Karma!
Posted by: Paul D ||
08/07/2010 13:07
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good news is more rain is in the forecast.
Posted by: chris ||
08/07/2010 14:02
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The seeming insensitivity of the Pakistani ruling class is nowhere better illustrated than by the decision of President Asif Ali Zardari to carry on with a visit to Britain, despite the progressive immersion of his country.
Wonder if 60-70 rooms at the Hotel Villa Padierna in Marbella would've been okay, though?
Christmas arrived early this year for this brave, young ex-Muslim convert to Christianity. Judge Mary Goodrich in Columbus, Ohio, has just decided that Rifqa, who will turn eighteen in five days, does not have to return to her family (all of whom are here illegally from Sri Lanka).
Goodrich also said its not in the girls best interest to return her to her native Sri Lanka. Bary is (also) an illegal immigrant. The ruling allows her attorneys to file for a special immigration status to allow her to stay in the U.S. while she continues medical treatment following recent surgery for uterine cancer.
Without going into details, allow me to note that this decision is a triumph of committed pro bono lawyering. Rifqa is both young and poor; nevertheless, she found a legal team able and willing to represent her for no money indeed, to go up against a legal team funded (and/or morally supported) by CAIR, the Council on American Islamic Relations.
Rifqa, like our earliest founding ancestors, will now be able to freely practice her chosen religion. She converted from Islam to Christianity. This is a capital crime among Muslims and could lead to her death, either at the hands of her own family or at the hands of any righteous Muslim. Rifqas lawyers have defended her right to convert to Christianity without having to die for her choice.
#1
This girl ought to be protected from a criminal and terrorist conspiracy (islam). Her life is in danger. Put her in the witness protection program. We put all sorts of others such as drug dealers, snitches, gang members, etc. in the protection program.
Thought this girl was diagnosed with cancer awhile back?
Google Translate. For a map, click here
Road blocks entered their second consecutive day as criminal gangs blocked several key intersections in Monterrey, Nuevo Leon, according to Mexican press reports.
Saturday morning several roads around the Monterrey airport were blocked by hijacked cars and trucks. Blocks were started near the intersection of calles Sendero and Manuel L Barragan, and at Calle Universidad and the road to Laredo at about 0400 hrs. Witnesses reported being ordered from their cars at gunpoint and being forced to walk away from the area in the dark.
These first blocks were quickly dismantled using cranes placed nearby by authorities.
The reasons for the blocks are unclear at the moment. Usually blocks take place because gangs want to impede movement of police and military forces, gangs have suffered some sort of reverse, or they are attempting to prevent armed forces from closing and engaging.
However, Monterrey city authorities announcesd only a few days ago new counter block tactics to include the use of prepositioned cranes, and placing some police forces on motorcycles.
Blocks have been used for sometime in Monterrey and their use has been extensive in the recent and ongoing fighting in Reynosa, Tamaupilas between criminal gangs, and Mexican police and military forces.
Guilt, stirred up by leftist thinkers, is now de rigueur in the west. But Pascal Bruckner believes our soul-searching is both hypocritical and injurious
#1
But Pascal Bruckner believes our soul-searching is both hypocritical and injurious
I agree, I never owned any slaves, neither did my Father, Grandfather, or Great Grandfaher,
I AM NOT RESPONSIBLE IN ANY WAY THAT BLACK PEOPLE ARE HERE IN AMERICA.
So the guilt the activists would MAKE me shoulder doesn't work (And it makes them FURIOUS that it doesn't.)
After all their (Rev Jesse, Martin Luther etc) whole game is to create White Guilt, then exploit it.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
08/07/2010 12:44
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Jim, while none of us have ever owned slaves, a fair number of us were around during the civil rights days of the 50s and early 60s. People then had a point, and they were right.
The country is better about this today than it ever has been, but that doesn't change the point that up to just a generation ago, minorities faced real, substantial legal barriers to just living a decent life. The legal barriers are gone but there's still barriers in place. That Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton, among others, play off that for their own benefit doesn't make those barriers less real.
Acknowledging that today isn't 'guilt' -- I don't feel guilty about history, but it would smart for me to learn from it.
There's no need for 'white guilt' or any other kind of guilt. There is a need for us all to continue in removing the barriers of the past. That's the kind of world a conservative should want to live in.
Posted by: Steve White ||
08/07/2010 12:58
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Jim, I am old enough to remember when Percy Julian, a professor at the University of Chicago, tried to move into my home town, Oak Park, about 1960. There were riots, cross burnings, the works. I find it humorous that 20 years later, the town renamed Hawthorne Middle School in Julian's honor.
I am also old enough to remember how Daley I's pals in real estate made a killing by blockbusting and "panic peddling". As soon as a black family moved into a neighborhood, Daley's minions in Sanitation stopped picking up the garbage and the schools stopped receiving supplies. Then the real estate vultures would get on the phone and say, "Better sell your house, because (Those People) are destroying your neighborhood." Of course, the vultures bought the houses cheap and sold high to black families. But The Machine still didn't pick up the trash, and let the schools rot.
Steve is right. Everyone needs to learn from this. Anybody who wants to see a racist needs only to look in the mirror. We all have our prejudices.
It's unfortunate for all of us that the Sharptons and Jacksons et al prefer to harp on old inequities instead of celebrating progress. It is also unfortunate that their grandstanding confuses the issue (see "Jena 6").
I have been a community volunteer in schools and neighborhood for 30 years. I wish a whole lot of people in the Education Establishment would take this paragraph to heart: Bruckner seeks a more rounded history. Nations should celebrate their heroes and victories while acknowledging their stains, because there are no angels and sinners among nations. In the west, the balance needs to tilt back toward a celebration of achievements and heroes who have fought for freedom and equality. Elsewhere, a little self-criticism would go a long way.
The worst thing the minority kids I volunteer with can do is keep on nursing these ancestral grievances. I have seen kids come into kindergarten telling other kids "Your granddaddy owned slaves." The Educational Establishment, with its white guilt mindset, is reinforcing this. This damages the minority children. When they breathe this attitude in, it results in lack of willingness to take responsibility for one's own actions; it confuses bad manners and racist violence with standing up for one's race. It breeds the Ghetto Mindset, and the Ghetto Mindset stunts its children and perpetuates this evil.
#4
The problem with that argument is that Asians were also discriminated against, faced legal obstructions, and bias. That community took advantage of the Civil Rights and Voting Rights Acts and instead of stewing in self destructive behaviors jumped at the opportunities afforded to them. That why the new game is to label Asians the 'New White'. So today, high achieving Asians, particularly, female Asians are effectively discriminated against in favor of others of less merit in access to state owned and operated academia. Yep, we've come a long way.
I remember the 60s and the bemoaning of white flight from the cities when forced busing was imposed. What the usual suspects ignored was the upper and middle class black flight from the cities as well. That tore the critical mass apart that kept destructive social behaviors in place prior. However, its the guilt game to blame whitey for the consequence and not the unintended consequences that we reaped from 'desegregation'. Can't gain power if you can't tag the man.
Convincing the 'haves' and sustaining the belief that somehow raced based advantage and privilege had more to do with their accomplishments and wealth than hard work, education, and determination is key to the big...."level the playing field" progressive con. And what better method of anchoring the concept to reality than linking it to slavery, billed as an exclusively white based, European and colonial American interprise.
#8
egntle beings Y'all have missed my point.
The race wars of chicago, birmingham washington and elsewhere are also not MY doing, but the above mentioned race baiters ae tying to make ME feel guilty, go after the correct people.
But no it's easier and more profitable to make ME guilty by association,(You're WHITE therefore YOU DID THIS, NOW YOU'LL PAY)
HELL NO I DIDN'T.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
08/07/2010 19:51
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#9
Mom: my daughter attended Percy Julian school.
Posted by: Steve White ||
08/07/2010 19:52
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#10
"The legal barriers are gone but there's still barriers in place."
#11
there are "no angels and sinners among nations." >/em>
If that is a statement that nations are not people, one cannot disagree. But if it is moral equivalence, which I suspect it is, those who want others to take it to heart should be put on a plane to stay in Riyadh to see what kind of reception they receive upon arrival. After a year there, they can preach to me about how little difference there is.
#12
The legal barriers are gone but there's still barriers in place.
Most of those barriers now are cultural and self imposed. Promoted by the Leftist who have little desire to see the black man off the democrats plantation.
Take east asians for example (Japanese, Chinese, etc...). They don't typically get better grades because they are asian - but because their culture values and stresses a good education.
On the other hand the 'welfare / gangsta culture' being promoted by hollywood and the leftist media values handouts, single-parent families and 'do what you want - you won't be held responsible and daddy FED will pay to raise your spawn or pay to murder it.'
#13
Besoeker: You are mistaken, sir. Everyone does in fact have some prejudices. Some are more subtle than others, but we do have them. And yes, there is discrimination. The local Electrical Worker's Union just got hit with sizable damages because the union boss denigrated a black applicant and demoted a white office worker for challenging the boss's actions. The union has to pay the white worker for lost wages and assorted punitive damages. If the facts are as the paper reported them (always that caveat) then the union deserved the penalties.
Perhaps I did not make myself entirely clear in the earlier post, so I will try again.
1. Racists, and people who gain power by exploiting racism, come in all colors.
2. Anybody who thinks he or she is not racist at any level is mistaken.
3. CF's observation that " most barriers are cultural and self imposed" is often correct. The Sharptons and their ilk foster the sense of grievance. Too many bright kids are told they are traitors to their race if they try to make something of themselves.(Cue "crabs in a bucket" analogy)
4. I interpreted the quotation I highlighted as "Nations are not people". That seems to fit the context of the article. Some cultures are indeed more toxic than others.
I interpret the author's statement, "A little self-criticism would go a long way" to mean that everybody needs to take a good look at themselves, not just white people.
5. We should never underestimate what evil people can do. The correct lesson to learn from race wars, slavery, etc is that people can and will find a way to justify any kind of evil, and we need to guard our hearts and minds against the attitudes that eventually produce these things.
#14
Besoeker, I self-censored. One of the perks of being a Mod. Figured I shouldn't post when I'm angry, which could set a bad example. However, my feelings on the subject remain unchanged.
Google Translate. For a map, click here
Four members of the criminal gang Los Zetas were killed Thursday in a confrontation with Mexican Marines, say Mexican press reports. The encounter took place in the San Fernando municipality (county) about 80 kilometers south of Reynosa, Tamaulipas at about 1800 hrs.
SecretarÃa de Marina-Armada de Mexico (SEMAR) said a patrol in the area was fired upon by gang members with small arms. When the Marines returned fire, four members of Los Zetas were dead. SEMAR reported no casualties.
Following the firefight, Mexican Marines reporting seizing a number of munitions, including six AR-15 assault rifles, an AK-47 assault rifle, two handguns, two .22 repeating rifles, three fragmentary hand grenades, more than 2,600 cartridges, and an RPG-7 rocket launcher.
Related materiel seized included ten bulletproof vests, 500 grams of cocaine, communications equipment, three trucks and more than $1,223.00 pesos ($95.16 USD) in cash.
Several weeks ago I wrote I thought Barack Obama didnt really want to be president. The post generated a fair amount of discussion, pro and con.
Michelles $375,000 Spanish vacation with the Daily Mail dubbing her a modern-day Marie Antoinette is further proof of my thesis. What man who wanted to be re-elected (or see his party do well in November) would let his wife go off on such an excellent adventure in these economic times? Of course no one denies the right of people to have vacations Im coming to the end of one myself on my beloved Bainbridge Island but closing Mediterranean beaches while booking 60-plus rooms in a five star Marbella hotel for her entourage? It is beyond tone deaf, perhaps to the level of subconscious (or even deliberate) self-sabotage.
At the very least, something most peculiar is going on. The first lady goes off on a jaunt worthy of 18th Century aristocracy at the very moment of her husbands birthday. Is somebody trying to tell us something? Is somebody trying to tell her spouse something? Or vice-versa? Who knows? You wont find out in the mainstream media thats for sure. They dont even bother to check Obamas college records. Perhaps the National Enquirer is on the case. They may be the only hope.
If I were still a member of the Democratic Party, I would be most concerned. What is going on in the White House seems to be so disconnected from the reality of our country with some indicating real unemployment at a staggering 22% as to be teetering on the brink of a pyschological disorder. And in this case that disorder would be a folie a deux of some sort because Barack and Michelle appear to be colluding in it in some way, whatever the state of their relationship. And that disconnect between them and the American people is growing.
#2
I wonder if choosing Marbella was also subconscious sabotage? Do a RB query on Marbella--lovely home of notorious arms dealer Monzer al-Kassar, Bashar's uncle Rifaat Assad, and Algerian terrorists, the Jihadi Salaphist Group.
#7
I wonder if choosing Marbella was also subconscious sabotage?
Marbella has long been known to everyone in Europe as the Gulf Arab gazillionaires' playground. The Saudi princes typically do what Barry's wife did, only on an even grander scale, and with blonde East European hookers flown in to their Marbella suites.
I don't know of any Americans-- let alone American politicians-- who go to Marbella. It's like selecting Dubai as your vacation destination. It's unbelievably tone-deaf.
Then again, maybe it was deliberate. Remember the bowing and (literally) scraping episode when Barry was introduced to King Fahd? Calling Chavez "amigo"? Telling an Egyptian audience that Zionism only sprang up as a result of the Holocaust?
Choosing the Saudis' preferred haunt as his and his wife's vacation spot is yet more evidence that Barry enjoys the image of himself as a lord among the third world crony capitalist elite.
#9
What is going on in the White House seems to be so disconnected from the reality of our country -- with some indicating real unemployment at a staggering 22% -- as to be teetering on the brink of a pyschological disorder.
Somewhere along the line Obama and Michelle act like society screwed them and they are owed despite living a privileged life. I don't think either one of them has really worked a day in their lives. I doubt that either one of them has experienced much hardship.
#12
Spot on Tipper. Too much effort and hard work involved in being president. The new has worn off, Barry is looking for a new toy, possibly Secretary General to the UN or some other international agency. I suspect the progressive 'fix is in' and he's stepping down to let the Hildebeast run in 2012. Look for a very, very vocal and activist former president.
#13
"I thought Barack Obama didnt really want to be president."
That's precious.
If by "President" you mean a leader bound by the checks and balances of the US Constitution, then you're right.
Make no mistake about it: The One loves the power his position gives him. The only thing he regrets is not having more and only being able to stay for eight years.
President Clinton's eight years in office took one hell of a toll on him too.
But in the end they had to drag him out by his finger nails.
These people are all the same.
Posted by: Marilyn Elmearong7030 ||
08/07/2010 22:25
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#14
I think he actually did want to be President. I mean, you get this really cool private plane, you have a nice rent-free and mortgage-free place to live in DC complete with servants, you always win at golf....
But the work part? Nah...he didn't want THAT. And the worst thing as far as he and his wife are concerned....he can't get a higher position than the one he has now. So, he might as well blow off his current gig, enjoy the perks, and count on his pension kicking in in January 2012.
In the most significant changes to Britain's defences since the post-Suez review of 1957, ministers and officials plan to scrap large parts of the Armed Forces.
The Services will lose up to 16,000 personnel, hundreds of tanks, scores of fighter jets and half a dozen ships, under detailed proposals passed to The Daily Telegraph.
But the RAF will bear the brunt of the planned cuts. The Air Force will lose 7,000 airmen -- almost one sixth of its total staff -- and 295 aircraft. The cuts will leave the Force with fewer than 200 fighter planes for the first time since 1914. In addition, the Navy will lose two submarines, three amphibious ships and more than 100 senior officers, along with 2,000 sailors and marines.
The Army faces a 40 per cent cut to its fleet of 9,700 armoured vehicles and the loss of a 5,000-strong brigade of troops.
The Telegraph has also learnt that the "black hole" in MoD finances, caused by orders which have been made but cannot be paid for, is approaching £72 billion over the next decade -- double the amount previously suggested.
While the Strategic Defence and Security Review is yet to be finalised, officials have drawn up a series of likely options to meet cuts of 10 to 20 per cent demanded by the Treasury.
By the end of this month the Defence Strategy Group, comprising ministers and military chiefs, will be presented with a number of recommendations that they will refine and pass to the National Security Council, chaired by the Prime Minister, in September.
In October, after agreement with the Treasury, an announcement will be made in Parliament on precisely what cuts the Forces face as part of the comprehensive spending review of Whitehall budgets.
If implemented, the cuts will mean that Britain will almost certainly depart the world stage as a major military power and become what military chiefs call defenseless a "medium-scale player".
So long, Britain, nice knowing you. Labour, Conservative or Liberal Democrat, there's only one place to find the pocket change needed to run the NHS. Take a close look, America, this is headed our way.
The medics were British, German and American. Two Afghans were also found dead with the three women and five men, the local police chief said.
The Taliban took credit for the killing of "nine Christian missionaries" in northern Afghanistan after the bodies were found in dense forest.
"Yesterday (Friday) at around 8am, one of our patrols confronted a group of foreigners. They were Christian missionaries and we killed them all," said Zabihullah Mujahed, a front man for the Taliban.
The group have a record for claiming responsibility for attacks in which they were not involved.
Mujahed said the group were lost and killed as they tried to escape.
"They were carrying Persian language bibles, a satellite-tracking device and maps," he said.
Gen Agha Noor Kemtuz, provincial police chief, said it was unclear what the group had been doing in Kuran Wa Munjan district of Badakhshan.
He said villagers had reported finding the abandoned vehicles in Afghanistan several days ago and an investigation team was sent to the densely-forested scene on the border with Nuristan province, one day's drive from the provincial capital Faizabad.
He said: "We couldn't find any passports or anything," he said.
"Nothing was left behind."
German and American diplomats confirmed they were urgently investigating the reports, but said the remote location was hampering investigations.
Gen Agha Noor Kemtuz told The Sunday Telegraph the doctors had passed through the province two weeks ago en route to neighbouring Nuristan.
They were attacked as they returned from Nuristan and had stopped for several days in a forested region called Sharone.
He said: "The local people told them not to stay there because it wasn't safe."
An Afghan man called Saifullah survived the attack after persuading the attackers not to execute him by reciting verses of the Koran.
Gen Kemtuz said Saifullah had testified that the doctors had been lined up, searched and robbed before being bumped off with AK-47s.
Saifullah was driven away as a captive before being released.
The dead were believed to be medical workers on an eye care mission from International Assistance Mission (IAM), a Christian charity specialising in health and economic development.
A statement from IAM said: "We have been informed that 10 people, both foreign and Afghan, were murdered in Badakhshan.
"It is likely that they are members of the International Assistance Mission (IAM) eye camp team.
"The team had been in Nuristan at the invitation of communities there. After having completed their medical work the team was returning to Kabul.
"At this stage we do not have many details but our thoughts and prayers are with the families and friends of those who are presumed killed.
"If these reports are confirmed we object to this senseless killing of people who have done nothing but serve the poor.
"Some of the foreigners have worked alongside the Afghan people for decades."
Sources close to the organisation said they had not been involved in proselytising.
Like a catalogue shopper, for the last decade the Ministry of Defence has ticked off desired items for purchase but now that the bills are coming in we can see we cannot pay them.
The previous government left us a military debt of £72 billion the equivalent of not paying our troops or buying equipment for the next two years. It means that from 2015, once we finish combat operations in Afghanistan, we are going to spend perhaps a decade in recovery, similar to the American recuperation post-Vietnam.
Ten members of medical team, including six Americans, were shot and killed by militants as they were returning from providing eye treatment and other health care in remote villages of northern Afghanistan, a spokesman for the team said Saturday.
Dirk Frans, director of the International Assistance Mission, said one German, one Briton and two Afghans also were a part of the team that made the two-week trip to Nuristan province. They drove to the province, left their vehicles and hiked for hours over mountainous terrain to reach the Parun valley in the province's northwest.
Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid said that they killed the foreigners because they were "spying for the Americans" and "preaching Christianity."
Frans said the International Assistance Mission is registered as a nonprofit Christian organization but it does not proselytize.
"This tragedy negatively impacts our ability to continue serving the Afghan people as IAM has been doing since 1966," according to a statement released by the charity. "We hope it will not stop our work that benefits over a quarter of a million Afghans each year."
The team, made up of doctors, nurses and logistics personnel, was attacked as it was returning to Kabul following a two-week mission in Nuristan, Frans said. They had decided to travel through Badakhshan province to return to the capital because they thought that would be the safest route, Frans said.
Among the dead was team leader Tom Little, an optometrist from Delmar, New York who has been working in Afghanistan for more than 30 years, Frans said.
Little was expelled by the Taliban government in August 2001 after the arrest of eight Christian aid workers -- two Americans and six Germans -- for allegedly trying to convert Afghans to Christianity. He returned to Afghanistan after the Taliban government was toppled in November 2001 by U.S.-backed forces.
Frans said he lost contact with Little on Wednesday. On Friday, a third Afghan member of the team, who survived the attack, called to report the killings. A fourth Afghan member of the team was not killed because he took a different route home because he had family in Jalalabad, Frans said.
According to Frans, two members of team worked for International Assistance Mission, two were former IAM workers and four others were affiliated with other organizations, which he did not disclose. He said five of the Americans were men and one was a woman. The Briton and German also were women.
Gen. Agha Noor Kemtuz, police chief in Badakhshan province, said the victims, who had been shot, were found Friday next to three bullet-riddled four-wheel drive vehicles in Kuran Wa Munjan district. He said villagers had warned the team that the area was dangerous, but the foreigners said they were doctors and weren't afraid. He said local police said about 10 gunmen robbed them and killed them one by one.
He said the two Afghans were interpreters were from Bamiyan and Panjshir provinces. A third Afghan man, who had been traveling with the group, survived.
"He told me he was shouting and reciting the holy Quran and saying 'I am Muslim. Don't kill me,'" Kemtuz said.
#1
Someone actually spent money developing this thing?
Posted by: john frum ||
08/07/2010 10:34
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#2
yeah i believe they where called the Wright brothers,
Posted by: chris ||
08/07/2010 12:16
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#3
MKy Father (Civil Engineer, Highway dept BIGwig) Said the FAA has nightmares about "Jetson" type flying cars, they have more than enough trouble with ONE dimension of travel.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
08/07/2010 14:30
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#4
Sheesh fat fingers MY Father.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
08/07/2010 14:31
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#5
Jim, my thoughts exactly. Seeing how these idiots drive in one dimension (plus a lane change), I am seriously afraid of how they would drive in three dimensions.
Besides, when your car runs out of gas, or develops engine trouble, it is annoying but rarely fatal. If your flying car's engine fails, it could be fatal to you and the people below.
Posted by: Rambler in Virginia ||
08/07/2010 15:15
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#6
If your flying car's engine fails, it could be fatal to you and the people below
Thats not a bug, thats a feature!!! Cleansing the gene pool of teh stupid!!
If we can get over the risk-adverse attitudes of our betters in D.C., Flying cars would have a cultural learning curve like automobiles. A lot of fatalities at first, then things would improve.
Brown is the Democratic nominee for governor on the November ballot and he previously called the ban unconstitutional.
Schwarzenegger has been more circumspect on his Proposition 8 position and his motion to immediately resume gay marriage was his boldest pronouncement on the issue. Looks like the idea of being behind doesn't appeal to him.
"The administration believes the public interest is best served by permitting the court's judgment to go into effect, thereby restoring the right of same-sex couples to marry in California," lawyers for Schwarzenegger said in the legal filing. "Doing so is consistent with California's long history of treating all people and their relationships with equal dignity and respect." ... and occasionally forming vigilance councils to try and repair the damage...
#1
"all people and their relationships with equal dignity"
Here comes polygamy - using the same specious reasoning, and destroying any semblance of meaning the word "marriage" has as anything other than a civil contract for tax and legal purposes.
#3
Part of the big problem with the iteration of feudal socialism we've implemented in this society is that noone is actually really _paid a unit of money for a unit of work_. Instead you get some money, plus about half of it in "benefits." Of course whose benefits are good and whose aren't, whether you can get an MRI or not, or your pension fund is backed up by the Feds or not... that's where the whole inequality before the law and in payment for work comes in, in ways it's difficult for a peon to prove. Marriage, and now Gay Marriage, is just another way to game the system now.
#8
I'd be okay with this if he actually meant it, but he's simply making yet another calculated statement. Back when he was running, he said it should be up to the voters to decide, and now he's taken the exact opposite position. Of course, I'm sure his first statement was as insincere as the last one.
Prof. Donna Shalala, Clinton's secretary of health, arrives in Israel in order to fight academic boycott against Israel, claims she was held at Ben-Gurion Airport just because she has Arab last name, Ynet reported Friday. Boo hoo hoo. A second lost here, an hour saved there. I'll take it.
This is not how she imagined her visit to Israel. Prof. Donna Shalala, who served as the US Secretary of Health and Human Services for eight years under Clinton and is currently the president of the University of Miami, was held for two-and-a-half hours at Ben Gurion Airport during which she underwent a humiliating security debriefing because of her Arab last name -- all this despite the fact that her hosts notified the airport ahead of time that she is a VIP. I'm sure the PA does a much better job.
The fact that Shalala arrived in Israel as part of an official delegation of the heads of universities fighting against the academic boycott against the Jewish State also seemed not to help her. Neither does the fact that all terrorists are muslim.
Shalala, 69, was born in the US to Lebanese immigrant parents. She is considered a true friend of Israel and has visited the country many times in the past.
She recently arrived in Israel as a guest of the American Jewish Congress with the objective of increasing collaboration among universities in Israel, the US, and the Palestinian Authority. During their visit, members of the delegation met with President Shimon Peres, Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon, and Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad.
The official visit ended on July 12, but Shalala stayed on for another two days for a private visit.
The AJC claims that it notified the Israel Airports Authority of Shalala's VIP status as is customary prior to her departure. However, the IAA claims that it has no record on file for Shalala prior to her arrival.
When Shalala arrived at the airport, she was not recognized as a VIP and was even afforded what she claims to be 'special' treatment because of her Arab last name. She claims she was held for two-and-a-half hours during which she was asked invasive and humiliating personal questions. Despite the delay, she managed to board the flight to the US. Officials who spoke with her said she was deeply offended by the treatment she received. Sucks to be a peon, doesn't it? Sure sucked for me a time or two, too. Sitting there at the airport with a couple of hours to kill. some Israeli security babe officer comes up and started one of their famous conversations with me. So I chatted with her for about a half hour while she's asking all her pointed questions like who I am, where I'm going, do I have any bombs, let me check what's in your pockets, is that a roll of shekels, etc.. I think she liked me because her friends started giggling then.
An IAA spokesperson reported in response: 'This incident is unknown to us. We performed a thorough check. There was no contact made with us or any other body. No unusual events were registered at Ben Gurion Airport, and we have no idea about this incident, which, from our perspective, never happened.'
IAA officials said that root of the problem is that the host organizations don't bother accompanying their guests to the airport. Too busy being efficient, I guess.
The incident was raised Wednesday during a discussion convened by Deputy Foreign Ministry Ayalon to discuss treatment of VIPs at Ben Gurion Airport. During the discussion, it was agreed that a new protocol will be drafted that will keep incidents to a minimum. Let's start with how American customs agents treated Rita, shall we?
First of all, Shalala has a background very similar to Helen Thomas in origin. She worked in Iran for two years in the early 1960s, and she is an honorary board member of the Iranian American Council, "an organization that seeks to promote closer U.S. relations with Iran."
So, given this background, and the Clinton administration's reputation for forthrightness, it is hard to imagine why Israel would be somewhat suspicious of her motives.
#3
Heck, this is what you wanted, enjoy it. Your boss wants America to be just one of the 'boys'. When you have no power or influence, when you repeatedly piss off your hosts, and when you diminish yourself before other powers, you get what everyone else gets. File under self inflicted wound.
#4
Here's a bit from Wikipedia that demonstrates that she has 1984-thought crime tendencies:
She next served as Chancellor of the University of WisconsinMadison. Under her chancellorship and with her support, the University adopted a broad speech code subjecting students to disciplinary action for communications that were perceived as hate speech. That speech code was later found unconstitutional by a federal judge.
"In a statement released today, Shalala took it in stride. While I was inconvenienced, Israels security and the security of travelers is far more important. I have been going in and out of Israel for many years and expect to visit again, she told the Chronicle."
In short, he prefers yet another public-private partnership, the now-familiar progressive corporatist model that met with such success in Italy in the 1920s. Odd, how the private party in that arrangement always turns out to be the junior partner. And yet he maintains that state support does not translate into official control. He seems not to have learned the popular phrase: he who pays the piper calls the tune.
#1
MSM will continue to try to figure out a way to demonize black conservatives. Must frustrate the hell out of the left wing MSM. Maybe some of the MSM will implode.
Heavily edited. Click link for unedited article. Of course, references to any presidents removed to avoid any possible appearance of impropriety.
James Clapper, tapped by President Obama for the Director of National Intelligence job, will be the fourth person to oversee the nation's 16 spy agencies since it was created five years ago. He succeeds Dennis Blair, who was pressured to resign because of differences with the White House over the scope of his role and turf battles with the CIA director.
"This is good news because to have left this key position vacant could well have damaged our national security," said Sen. Dianne "Genius" Feinstein, Dimwit - CA, chairwoman of the Senate Intelligence Committee.
Clapper is a retired Air Force lieutenant general who has spent most of his career in the intelligence community. He served as the Director of the Defense Intelligence Agency and the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency. He is currently the DoD's chief intelligence officer.
"General Clapper has excellent credentials, and the support of the White House and key intelligence leaders," Feinstein said in a statement released after the vote. "He is mindful of the importance of independence from the Pentagon, he understands the DNI's responsibility to provide strategic intelligence to policymakers, and he knows that the job entails more than simple coordination."
During his recent confirmation hearing, Clapper said he wouldn't agree to take the job if he thought he "was going to be a titular figurehead or hood ornament."
A number of senators had questioned whether the DNI had enough authority to get the job done. Clapper said he did not need any new authority to oversee the 16 intelligence agencies and offices. Already at war with the bureaucrats. I think I already like this guy.
#1
Clapper said he did not need any new authority to oversee the 16 intelligence agencies and offices.
If he now controls funding and personnel, he might be correct. If he does not control funding and personnel..... see quote which reads; "was going to be a titular figurehead or hood ornament."
#2
I don't believe this for a minute. These 16 agencies fight worse than Texas cheerleader mothers. They also go to great lengths to avoid congressional control or even awareness.
The NRO, for example, built a major satellite tracking facility with black budget funds, which the Senate Intelligence Committee didn't even find out about until it was operational. They were enraged, but there was nothing they could do about it.
W. Bush should be applauded for at least trying to get a handle on things, but even he was thwarted when trying to reform CIA. The mandarins there just laughed, and sent his appointee back to the WH in a paper bag.
#1
The MSM may yawn, but Homeland Sec better take close notice. With AQ threats to use nukes on America, joined with the Alliance of Caribbean and Latin Weasels, this may not be an idle threat. Russians outnumber Cubans is some parts of south Florida. Spetznaz-trained Cubans and Venezuelans, Russians, FL-raised AQ (Shukrijumah) and Hezbollah throughout the region plus the southern coasts and ports are impossible to secure. A couple of hours by sea, with a shuttle of fishing trawlers, personal yachts, especially those well-equipped mega-yachts with Wi-Fi, helicopters and submersibles owned by Russian billionaires, and miles and miles of secluded coastline for drop-offs besides the illicit cargo packed alongside ethnic groceries, and they could have a quite an arsenal already in place. You can spend days at sea without ever seeing a customs official or even the Coast Guard so focusing all the $$$$ on the Mexican border is somewhat moot.
#2
Castro is smarter than to actualy USE a nuke against the USA, his (Barren) Island would glow for centuries, AND HE KNOWS IT.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
08/07/2010 14:34
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#3
Castro does know we'd retaliate and said so in '92 but he's also old, suicidal for the greater cause, and the damage done before any blame could be ascertained among the many possible co-conspirators.
From the Breitbart article:
The cataclysm he craved in Oct. 1962 will erupt, he warned on Cuban TV, when the Israelis and their Yankee vassals provoke Iran in the straits of Hormuz.
Thats not a typo above. Castro, who co-sponsored the famous 1975 UN resolution equating Zionism with Racism, says the Israeli tail wags the Yankee dog. Those Yankees are certainly powerful, Castro explained, but also a bit naïve and docile. The main instigators, the ones carefully setting the trap to ignite nuclear war are those crafty Israelis. The control that Israel has over the United States is enormous, he revealed last week.
Fidel Castro, that sentimental old fool, has excellent reason to bask in the fond memory of imminent nuclear war. Of course I knew the missiles were nuclear- armed, responded Fidel Castro to Robert McNamara during a meeting in 1992. Thats precisely why I urged Khrushchev to launch them. And of course Cuba would have been utterly destroyed in the exchange.
#4
Castro is predicting Armageddon is about to commence; obligatory Islamic warning to the in-Fidels? AP excerpt on Castro's appearance:
Recently, however, the former Cuban leader has been making near-daily appearances in and around Havana: He has addressed groups of Cuban intellectuals and Communist Youth meetings, and even made a trip to the Havana aquarium for a dolphin show.
Castro, who has written on the topic of nuclear war for months, maintains that the United States and Israel will attack Iran and that Washington could also target North Korea. He has suggested the conflict could have Armageddon-like consequences for the whole world, even predicting in several opinion columns that fighting was to already have begun by now.
AFP is a foreign news org, right?
A horrifically mutilated Afghan woman who appeared on a controversial Time magazine cover is to undergo surgery in the United States to rebuild her face, officials said Friday.
The 18-year-old youngster -- identified in media reports only by her first name Aisha -- will meet with surgeons to discuss how to replace her nose, which was sliced off by the Taliban after she fled her abusive in-laws.
The Afghan teenager has become a symbol of a debate amongst commentators over the nature of the US mission in Afghanistan, with Time arguing Aisha's case demonstrates why the Taliban should never be allowed to return to power.
"Aisha posed for the picture and says she wants the world to see the effect a Taliban resurgence would have on the women of Afghanistan, many of whom have flourished in the past few years," Time's Managing Editor Richard Stengel wrote in an editorial accompanying the August 9 edition of the magazine.
Aisha, whose ears were also hacked off in the attack last year in the southern Afghan province of Uruzgan, was taken in by the American Provincial Reconstruction Team for Uruzgan and the Women for Afghan Women (WAW) non-governmental organization after being left for dead.
The Grossman Burn Foundation, a non-profit humanitarian hospital in California which provides surgical procedures to victims of serious injuries worldwide, said Aisha would be treated for free.
"The surgery is being donated by Plastic and Reconstructive surgeon Dr Peter Grossman and the team at The Grossman Burn Center," foundation chairwoman Rebecca Grossman told AFP. "The Grossman Burn Foundation is covering additional cost related to Bibi Aisha." Isn't that just like us infidel Americans ...
The foundation cited a United Nations report which estimated nearly 90 percent of Afghan women suffered from domestic violence.
"Bibi Aisha is only one example of thousands of girls and women in Afghanistan and throughout the world who are treated this way," the foundation said.
The foundation did not confirm the date of Aisha's surgery.
I wonder how long it will be before the Taliban cut off her ears and nose again. I don't think she will be able to return to Afghanistan.
Posted by: Frank G on the road ||
08/07/2010 9:29
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#2
Please get off the road Frank. It's dangerous.
One would think that people would run a fast as they could away from this pseudo religion of stealth, domination, and terror after taking a look at this woman. Or the stonings. Or the religious intolerance. Or the murders. Religion of peace. BS.
This is not necessarily for publishing at Rantburg but is more of a headsup. These is a notification of things to come if the border situation does not improve.
We'll publish this. Our ranchers and their families must know this. If you're a Burg regular and live near the border, stay safe -- and preferably well armed.
Mexican kidnappers are gathering considerable information on the families of ranchers along the American side of the Mexican border. They are already calling relatives demanding ransom for relatives they claim they are holding. The family member then calls the person supposed to have been kidnapped to find that they have not been kidnapped.
This is a very common practice in Mexico where wealthy land owners are kidnapped and held for heavy ransoms. The alarming thing about this is that Mexican kidnappers now know a lot about the family trees of ranchers along near the Mexican border.
#1
The Mexicans had better be careful, or the ranchers might start recruiting Apaches, who think of themselves as just above Mexicans on the food chain.
N.B.: It would be better to be captured by Afghans.
#2
Maybe I need to start a speaking tour, telling US ranchers about my "coffee-can land mines". Coffee can, nuts and bolts (preferably rusty), some chopped-up barbed wire, two inches of black powder, a spark plug, a long wire (preferably buried)and some ready-mix. Blast radius about 30 yards, still lethal at 20.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
08/07/2010 21:50
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NINEWA / Aswat al-Iraq: Iraqi army forces defused improvised explosive devices planted under power pylons south of Mosul city on Friday, according to a source in the Ninewa Operations Command (NOC).
The Iraqi armys 2nd Division personnel stationed in Mosul removed five IEDs from under power pylons on the outside road south of Mosul, the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.
The charges were defused without incident or damage to the facilities, the source added.
Posted by: Steve White ||
08/07/2010
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[Al Arabiya Latest] Stormy weather grounded helicopters carrying emergency supplies to Pakistan's flood-ravaged northwest Friday as authorities said 12 million people had been effected and 650,000 houses destroyed in the disaster.
U.S. military personnel waiting to fly Chinooks to stranded communities in the upper reaches of the hard-hit Swat Valley were frustrated by the storms, which dumped more rain on a region where many thousands are living in tents or crammed into public buildings.
Over the last week, floods triggered by monsoon rains have spread from the northwest down Pakistan, killing around 1,500 people.
Some 30,000 Pakistani soldiers are rebuilding bridges, delivering food and setting up relief camps in the northwest, which is the main battleground in the fight against al-Qaeda and the Taliban. Foreign countries and the United Nations have donated millions of dollars.
Nadim Ahmed, the head of the National Disaster Management Authority, said 12 million people had so far been affected by the floods and 650,000 houses destroyed over some 132,000 square kilometers (50,965 square miles), making it a bigger -- but far less deadly -- disaster than the 2005 Kashmir earthquake.
Relief effort
Ahmed did not say what he meant by affected, though the figure presumably includes those who may have experiencing only minor floods.
The United Nations earlier said that more than 4 million people had been affected, but normally bases its figures on government data. Officials from the world body were not immediately available for comment on the updated estimate Friday.
Also helping out in the relief effort are Islamist charities, including the Falah-e-Insaniat Foundation, which Western officials believe is linked to Lashkar-e-Taiba, the group blamed for the 2008 Mumbai attacks. Foundation head Hafiz Abdur Rauf said the assistance of the U.S. Army was welcome.
"This is a difficult situation for us. Every helping hand and donation is welcome," he said, adding that his group is running 12 medical facilities and providing cooked food for 100,000 people every day. The foundation helped out after the Kashmir earthquake under a different name.
The government has come under criticism for not doing enough, especially since President Asif Ali Zardari chose to go ahead with a trip to Europe at the height of the crisis.
In the Sukkur area of Sindh in southern Pakistan, 70 villages had been flooded over the last 24 hours, the navy said.
"Floods killed our people, they have ruined our homes and even washed away the graves of our loved ones. Yet we are here without help from the government," said Mai Sahat, a 35-year-old women looking over a flooded landscape where her village used to be.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/07/2010
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#1
ION NEWS KERALA > CLIMATE CHANGE MAY WIPE OUT 80% OF [World]RAIN FORESTS BY 2100, hence ditto the majority or bulk of Plant + Animal specias dependent on same.
plus
* TOPIX > WHY HAVE THE NORHERN LIGHTS MOVED SOUTH? + NORHERN LIGHTS EXPECTED IN SOUTH AGAIN.
Posted by: Frank G on the road ||
08/07/2010 9:55
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Are these millions of people still at war with us, despite the billions of dollars we've given them and the aid we gave them from the last catastrophe they suffered?
#4
TFSM, what is unmentioned is that the billions of dollars we've given the Paks could have been used to help the Pak people. Then they could have managed this problem better.
Posted by: Steve White ||
08/07/2010 13:06
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They don't have to manage their money well, we'll _always_ help even as they make war upon us.
[Iran Press TV Latest] The Iranian government has upped its boycott of Israeli goods, saying it will closely monitor the enforcement of a ban on Israeli products.
"No state- or non-state-owned company is allowed to sell Israeli products in the Islamic republic and the government closely monitors the matter," said Iran's Vice President for Parliamentary Affairs Hojjatoleslam Mohammad-Reza Mir-Tajeddini.
Speaking at a conference titled "Popular Intifada and Boycotting Israeli Goods" late Thursday, Mir-Tajeddini condemned the "occupying nature" of the Israeli regime, IRNA reported.
He said that the only thing standing in the way of the regime attacking Middle East nations to realize its dream of an Israeli homeland stretching from the Nile to the Euphrates is the Islamic resistance.
The Iranian official added that Israel's policies are facing growing international condemnation an example of which was the global outcry against the deadly attack on a Turkish-flagged aid convoy on May 31 and the recent reaction of the Lebanese army to the border violation of Israeli soldiers.
Quoting the Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei, Mir-Tajeddini said purchasing any Israeli commodities and contributing to Israeli interests is forbidden.
"Existing laws on boycotting Israeli products are not comprehensive," said Mir-Tajeddini, adding that the 'ministries of commerce, foreign affairs and intelligence as well as a judiciary institution would need to give their opinion on new companies so that necessary action can be taken against them by the government.'
Posted by: Fred ||
08/07/2010
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#1
What was left to boycott? Only ideas. Good luck with that.
Posted by: Mike Ramsey ||
08/07/2010 7:41
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[Al Arabiya Latest] President Barack Obama has sent a letter to Iraq's top Shiite cleric, Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, urging him to persuade the country's squabbling political leaders to form a new government, Foreign Policy magazine reported Friday.
The magazine's online edition, which cited an unnamed individual briefed by members of the cleric's family as its source, said that the letter was delivered to Sistani by a Shiite member of the Iraqi parliament.
Obama sent the letter shortly after a failed attempt by Vice President Joe Biden to settle the dispute over the new government during a visit to Baghdad July 4, the report said.
A White House spokesman had no comment on the report, and a spokesman for Sistani's office in Najaf also declined to comment.
The political impasse in Iraq comes as US forces are drawing down their numbers to 50,000 troops by the end of the month despite simmering political violence.
Former Prime Minister Iyad Allawi's party edged out a coalition led by Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki in March parliamentary elections, but neither won a majority and negotiations on a new government have stalled.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/07/2010
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#1
Putting a face to a name, just in case you run into Ayatollah Ali at your local Safestway.
GAZA CITY (Ma'an) — Gaza police said a home-made projectile exploded before it was launched from west of Beit Lahiya in the northern Gaza Strip on Friday. ...6...5...4...BOOM!
Mahmoud, I must leave now to change my shorts.
Witnesses told Ma'an that they heard an explosion in the Al-Waha area of the town, near the border with Israel, but said it was unclear what took place. Must be like a car alarm going off over here.
Palestinian medical sources said no injuries were reported in the area, while Gaza police Operations Room officials in the northern Strip confirmed that a home-made projectile misfired and exploded as militant groups attempted to launch the explosive toward targets in Israel. Another setback for the Gaza space program...
With the district in a financial crisis and hundreds of its members facing layoffs, the Milwaukee teachers union is taking a peculiar stand: fighting to get its taxpayer-funded Viagra back.
The union has asked a judge to order the school board to again include Pfizer Inc.'s erectile dysfunction drug and similar pills in its health insurance plans.
The filing is the latest in a two-year legal campaign in which the union has argued, so far unsuccessfully, that the board's policy of excluding erectile dysfunction drugs discriminates against male employees. The union says Viagra, Cialis, Levitra and others are necessary treatment for "an exclusively gender-related condition."
Continued on Page 49
[Iran Press TV Latest] An Iraqi cleric has accused US-led troops of attempting to extend their presence in Iraq by staging the recent terrorist attacks in the country.
Sadr City's Friday Prayers Leader Seyyed Muhammad al-Musawi accused the US of trying to portray the Iraqi government and security forces as weak and incapable of providing security for the Iraqis in order to justify the country's occupation.
Iraq security forces are weak. That's a real stretch of an accusation, Seyyed ...
He also accused Washington of interfering in Iraq's internal affairs and of blocking attempts to form a new government in the country.
"The US and Israel are putting pressure on Iraqi officials, they are playing an important role in delaying the formation of a new Iraqi government", al-Musawi told worshipers.
Provincial counselors attending the prayers also complained about US meddling in Iraq's internal affairs, saying repeated visits by American officials when Iraqi politicians are holding talks on forming the new government proves that they are interfering in the affairs of a sovereign state.
They also called on Iraqi politicians to put aside their differences and form a national unity government as soon as possible.
Analysts have warned that violence in Iraq may see a surge if negotiations on forming a new governing coalition continue to drag on.
This article starring:
Seyyed Muhammad al-Musawi
Posted by: Fred ||
08/07/2010
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#1
Not sure why Sadr wasn't killed and his death blamed on Saddam during the initial invasion stage. Iranian stooge.
Force Protection confirms it's also in the running for a projected 600-vehicle buy by Canada, submitting two variants of its popular Cougar MRAP for consideration in Canada's Tactical Armored Patrol Vehicle program.
#3
Impressive MRAP, but similiar models are being absolutely ripped apart by IED/VBIED's in Afghanistan every week. When 5-600 lbs of homemade explosives goes off, not much survives.
[Dawn] India's interior minister hinted on Friday that Pakistan could be behind weeks of violent anti-India protests in the disputed Kashmir region, a move that could hurt the countries attempts to improve ties.
This is the first time New Delhi has linked Pakistan to the violence in Kashmir that has killed nearly 50 people since June. Earlier India had said Pakistan-based militants were inciting trouble in Kashmir.
"Pakistan appears to have altered its strategy in influencing events in Jammu and Kashmir," Palaniappan Chidambaram told the Indian parliament during a debate on the protests, among the biggest since a separatist revolt against Indian rule broke out in 1989.
"It is possible that they believe that relying upon civilian unrest will pay them better dividends. But I am confident if we are able to win the hearts and minds of the people ... those designs can be foiled."
The comments could be seen by Islamabad as a provocation, damaging prospects for improving ties that plummetted after the 2008 Mumbai attacks that killed 166 people and derailed a sluggish four-year-old peace process with Pakistan.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/07/2010
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#1
The comments could be seen by Islamabad as a provocation, damaging prospects for improving ties that plummetted after the 2008 Mumbai attacks that killed 166 people and derailed a sluggish four-year-old peace process with Pakistan.
"How dare you acknowledge the truth in front of your face!"
Posted by: Frank G on the road ||
08/07/2010 9:41
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What happened to the Master of the Obvious?
Posted by: Alan Cramer ||
08/07/2010 10:49
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Despite President Obama's pledge to retain more hi-tech jobs in the U.S., a federal agency run by a hand-picked Obama appointee has launched a $36 million program to train workers, including 3,000 specialists in IT and related functions, in South Asia.
Following their training, the tech workers will be placed with outsourcing vendors in the region that provide offshore IT and business services to American companies looking to take advantage of the Asian subcontinent's low labor costs.
Under director Rajiv Shah, the United States Agency for International Development will partner with private outsourcers in Sri Lanka to teach workers there advanced IT skills like Enterprise Java (Java EE) programming, as well as skills in business process outsourcing and call center support. USAID will also help the trainees brush up on their English language proficiency.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Fred ||
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#1
Couple this news with plans for Government Motors to build and open a new plant that will create thousands of new jobs... in Mexico.
#5
That is just frickin' unbelievable. The revolution begins now. Frickin' traitors. If not now...when?
Posted by: Black Charlie Chinemble5313 ||
08/07/2010 0:47
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#6
From the comments...
I emailed them regarding this article, This is their response:
Thank you for your e-mail to the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). The United States has a long history of extending a helping hand to those overseas struggling to make a better life, recovering from a disaster or striving to live in a free and democratic country. This caring stands as a hallmark of the United States around the world -- and shows our true character as a nation. U.S. foreign assistance has always had the twofold purpose of furthering America's foreign policy interests in expanding democracy and free markets while improving the lives of the citizens of the developing world. Spending less than 1 percent of the federal budget, USAID works around the globe to achieve these goals. USAID plays a vital role in promoting U.S. national security, foreign policy, and the War on Terrorism. It does so by addressing poverty fueled by lack of economic opportunity, one of the root causes of violence today. As stated in the President's National Security Strategy, USAID's work in development joins diplomacy and defense as one of three key pieces of the nation's foreign policy apparatus. USAID promotes peace and stability by fostering economic growth, protecting human health, providing emergency humanitarian assistance, and enhancing democracy in developing countries. These efforts to improve the lives of millions of people worldwide represent U.S. values and advance U.S. interests for peace and prosperity. Sincerely,USAID Information Center
#7
"Private Partners".....? Another Bill and Melinda Gates business development opportunity no doubt. Buggering USAID would be the FIRST thing to be discontinued under a Besoeker administration.
#8
The United States has a long history of extending a helping hand to those overseas struggling to make a better life.
It would be nice if they looked inward to helping Americans, because if they-meaning the feds- dont then the rest of this email will have dire realities.
But then USAID Is like the ACLU and CAIR, they care little to nothing about the average American and more about their agenda of tearing America down...
Posted by: 49 Pan in UAE ||
08/07/2010 2:13
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#9
I know a lot of unemployed and underemployed IT people. This is treason, the people that came up with and executed this policy should be executed themselves. Up against the wall, no mercy. Using our tax dollars to destroy our economy, what arrogant assholes.
State Department should be cleaned out with a flamethrower.
#10
lack of economic opportunity, one of the root causes of violence today.
And we see a severe lack of this in the US developing... I wonder if those bright boys have done the math yet on what happens when Americans go "freedom fighter"?
As guerillas, we are hard core - ask the British. As terrorists we are a damned sight more effective than the bloody Muhammadans - ask McVeigh's victims. And we hold the grudges hard and long - visit Gettysburg for what happens when the US gets fired up against itself.
These bureaucrats and insider politicians and elitists in DC should be rounded up an summarily executed before they bring ruin to us all.
A gentle reminder to help protect Fred and this site by avoiding overt calls at the Burg for violence against US officials. No matter how deserved they may be.
#14
I bought a new router yesterday. The router was made in China. I ran into some setup problems. I got a guy in the Philippines to walk me through it. We wonder why we don't have jobs in this country. We regulate the hell out of our industries (what's left) but we are limited in regulation of foreign exporters to the U.S. So we are tying the hands of U.S. manufacturers. These are jobs which could get us out of the employment problems we got. What is the real cost of cheap labor?
#18
@tu i hear ya my wife is in the IT field and is currnetly laid off . She just about threw up when i showed her this article.
Posted by: chris ||
08/07/2010 12:23
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#19
Funny how the upper crust is _sure_ they don't need American workers to do IT, but they're all absolutely sure they'll be better than the average Hakka at managing a business!
#20
That's why I was asking the other day how much it would cost to buy a four bedroom, three bath, three car garage, two-story, 2500 square foot home in Bangalore. Instead of the US granting H1-B visas to foreign workers to come to the United States, we're going to have India granting similar types of visas for Americans to go to work in India. Mrs. Uluque will miss her family and friends but it might be interesting to work in an environment where hard work, brains and initiative are respected and rewarded.
I'm kidding, or course, Mrs. Uluque won't even let me leave San Diego. Er, at least as long as I can keep my job. But it doesn't really sound all that far fetched anymore. Our politicians are willing to let our computer industry go the way of textiles. Morons. Criminals.
#21
The worst part is the strategic vulnerability this will bring to the US, becasue IT skills are vital as a force multiplier. That's where my charge of "treason" comes into play - why are we not building up our capabilities with this money instead of pissing it away overseas on people that will take jobs - and SKILLS - out of the country?
For my use of the word "execute" let me supply some context - its meant to be in the context of "after a trial for treason" once the Republic begins to collapse under the weight of these sorts of actions, not meant as "assassinate" extra-judicially. I don't want Fred to be in trouble.
Best course of action is to clean out State Dept and DC with the ballot box while we still can, otherwise it will eventually fall to the ammo box, with all the horrible bloodshed and anarchy that implies (note: Gettysburg, McVeigh, etc).
#22
I'm with you, OldSpook. We have one chance - this November - of stopping mob rule at the ballot box. After that, as you said, there's only one option. Between cutting the PORK and the OUTRIGHT GRAFT from the Federal budget, there are about 40 government offices that need to be closed, and some 270 more that need to be reduced in size and consolidated into about a dozen - if that many. My major concern is there isn't enough rope in DC, and we may have to make an emergency order to India to finish the job.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
08/07/2010 19:05
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#23
The only way to ensure the government cannot exceed its designed powers is to reduce the size of it. Starve the beast. Nearly to death. This will destroy a lot of what's wrong - along with a few things that are not wrong.
Se we need to be prepared as individuals to pick up the slack when we starve parts of it that are needed for keeping some people from going under - Charity begins at home, and we need to bring back that virtue instead of delegating it to the government. Personally give a private hand up, instead of government handout.
#25
No way. The decks that are flooded are filled with those who believed FDR and not the Founders. They're dying rapidly. And ultimately the boat will right itself and go on to greater glory. But perhaps not until we have made our final contribution to righting it.
Experts believe the US government is under-reporting the amount of crude left in the Gulf of Mexico after the disastrous BP oil spill for "political gains."
On Wednesday, soon after the completion of the static kill process of the BP ruptured well in the Gulf, the administration of President Barack Obama announced that only about 26 percent of the leaked oil was unaccounted for.
This is while according to the media reports up to 75 percent of the leaked oil is still in the sea.
Speaking to Press TV on Thursday, Allen Roland, the California-based online columnist, said that the US government is conducting "a massive cover-up" firstly, "for political reasons" and secondly, for saving the London-based energy giant BP.
"The thing is they don't care, because they want to get through the election," Roland said, adding that "it is a big bailout."
"BP is too big to fail as part of the Obama Administration, and a wonderful source of money coming in to them."
Roland said that the US government was not to let BP "go under", as the company "was another one conservative for President Obama in the last election.
He added that London-based the energy giant "provides 40 percent of the oil for the Pentagon."
Scientists believe that the distorted data provided by the Obama administration highly relies on assumptions and estimates with a significant margin of error to make the Gulf look as good as possible.
"There's a lot of . . . smoke and mirrors in this report," said Ian MacDonald, a professor of biological oceanography at Florida State University, according to a Washington Post report on Thursday.
"It seems very reassuring, but the data aren't there to actually bear out the assurances that were made."
Of the 4.9 million barrels (205.8 million gallons) that spewed out of the well into the gulf, only 827,000 barrels were siphoned to vessels on the surface.
The BP oil disaster, kicked off after an April explosion on the Deepwater Horizon oil rig that killed 11 workers, has caused the worst environmental accident in the US and oil history.
Posted by: Fred ||
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"Experts"......Speaking to Press TV on Thursday, Allen Roland, the California-based online columnist, said that the US government is conducting "a massive cover-up" firstly, "for political reasons" and secondly, for saving the London-based energy giant BP.
#5
Why does anyone pay attention to anything our government prints or says? They deliberately put out false information that casts them in a good light and then 1 to 8 months later (when people don't care about the issue) they "correct" the numbers. This is a deliberate and subtle form of thought control and all the MSM news programs are helping Obummer do this to our detriment. They do this continuously on unemployment,the budget and now on their performance (hinderance) of the oil clean up. This lie will be used for electioneering in November just like all the other lies and then after the election the real figures will be released. Obummer's news (propaganda) programs are so detached from the truth the only reason I ocasionally tune in is to see the commercials. That way I know what companies are financially helping Obummer to destroy our country by buying advertising. Then they are added to my list of consumer products to boycott. I can remember when Obummer was a Christian.
Posted by: David ||
08/07/2010 15:40
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A suspected Al Qaida operative who lived for more than 15 years in the United States 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.
Adnan Shukrijumah, 35, has taken over a position once held by September 11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, who was captured in 2003, Miami-based FBI counterterrorism agent Brian LeBlanc told The News Agency that Dare Not be Named in an exclusive interview. That puts him in regular contact with al-Qaida'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 US dronezaps, leaving Shukrijumah as the de facto chief and successor to Mohammed, his former boss.
"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 US and other Western countries. Basically through attrition, he has become his old boss."
The FBI has been searching for Shukrijumah since 2003. He is thought to be the only Al Qaida leader to have once held permanent US resident status, or a green card.
Shukrijumah was named earlier this year in a federal indictment as a conspirator in the case against three men accused of plotting suicide bomb attacks on New York's subway system in 2009. The indictment marked the first criminal charges against Shukrijumah, who previously had been sought only as a witness.
Shukrijumah is also suspected of playing a role in plotting of potential Al Qaida bomb attacks in Norway and a never-executed attack on subways in the United Kingdom, but LeBlanc said no direct link has yet emerged. Travel records and other evidence also indicate Shukrijumah did research and surveillance in spring 2001 for a never-attempted plot to disrupt commerce in the Panama Canal by sinking a freighter there, LeBlanc explained.
Shukrijumah was labeled a "clear and present danger" to the US in 2004 by then-Attorney General John Ashcroft. The US is offering a $5 million reward for information leading to his capture and the FBI also is releasing an age-enhanced photo of what he may look like today.
It's natural he would focus on attacking on the US LeBlanc said.
"He knows how the system works. He knows how to get a driver's license. He knows how to get a passport," LeBlanc said.
'Came to the US after father took post at Flordia mosque'
LeBlanc said the new charges were brought after the New York subway bomb suspects identified him to investigators as their Al Qaida superior. The New York suspects provided other key information about his Al Qaida status.
"It was basically Adnan who convinced them to come back to the United States and do this attack," LeBlanc said. "His ability to manipulate someone like that and direct that, I think it speaks volumes."
Before turning to radical strains of Islam, Shukrijumah lived in Miramar with his mother and five siblings, excelling at computer science and chemistry courses while studying at community college. He had come to South Florida in 1995 when his father, a Mohammedan cleric and missionary trained in Saudi Arabia, decided to take a post at a Florida mosque after several years at a mosque in Brooklyn, New York.
At some point in the late 1990s, according to the FBI, Shukrijumah became convinced that he must participate in "jihad," or holy war, to fight perceived persecution against Mohammedans in places like Chechnya and Bosnia.
That led to training camps in Afghanistan in the late 1990s, where he underwent basic and advanced training in the use of automatic weapons, explosives, battle tactics, surveillance and camouflage.
Shukrijumah was born in Saudi Arabia. He is a citizen of Guyana, a small South American country where his father was born. His father died in 2004.
The FBI is still hoping to bring charges in South Florida against Shukrijumah, but key information about him was provided by Guantanamo Bay detainees such as Mohammed, whose use as a witness would be difficult.
"For us, it's never been a dry hole. It's always been an active investigation and it's global in nature," LeBlanc said. "We have never stopped working it."
Posted by: Fred ||
08/07/2010
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the girls began 20 weeks of training in the military basics uniforms, drill, formation, weapons (although they will not be carrying firearms on a daily basis),
WTF? their uniforms will just make them better targets unless they carry weapons at all times. Who came up with that bright idea? Zahra Bayat: 'When I decided to join the army, my immediate family were pleased for me but my uncle, who is a mullah, thinks I have shamed the family. He told me that if he sees me in the street he will kill me.' There is something rather important missing in this story.
#2
I hope the feckless, liberal, womens rights and equality crowd along with the US female trainers realize they are training the walking dead. As SOON as the US leaves, these poor souls will be butchered like goats.
#3
Most likely they'd be butchered anyway somewhere down the line simply because they show 'initiative' and self empowerment. At least with the training they have a good chance to take out some of the troglodytes in one last act of defiance rather than going down like sheep. More power to them.
Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) chief Fazlur Rehman befooled the entire Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA) leadership in the name of revival of the six-party religio-political alliance, as he just wanted to use meetings of the defunct MMA to press the government to secure chairmanship of the Council of Islamic Ideology (CII), said Sahibzada Abul Khair Muhammad Zubair, the Jamiat Ulema-e-Pakistan (JUP) Sindh president.
"He (Fazl) does not want to quit the government in the Centre and still continues pressing the MMA leadership to convene meetings of the defunct party, despite a clear stance of the rest of the religious parties that revival of the alliance is impossible until and unless the JUI-F quits the government in the Centre," Zubair said while talking to Daily Times. He said Fazl, by participating in the meetings, just wanted to make the government believe that he is more interested in reviving the religio-political platform and was going to quit the government to pressurise it on a number of political issues.
Zubair, who was to host the fourth meeting of the religious parties to discuss the issue of the alliance's revival, said Fazl had been clearly told in the last meeting that no more meetings will be taking place unless he quit the government and announce it in the meeting.
"We have now linked the convening of the next meeting with his (Fazl's) announcement to quit the government, otherwise I won't convene and host the meeting," he added.
Announcement: Providing details of previous meetings, the JUP Sindh president said Fazl demanded the leadership of the defunct MMA first announce the alliance's revival after which he would announce his exit from the government, but he said the other parties did not trust him. In fact, the rest of the leadership asked him to first announce his exit openly and then pursue the revival. But Fazl did not respond positively to the demand, he added.
Zubair observed that the entire leadership of the defunct MMA was convinced that Fazl had used the previous meetings as a tool to pressurise the government to secure the chairmanship of the CII and other political benefits. He said convening of the next meeting would mean that Fazl had decided to quit the government, otherwise any such meetings would be a waste of time.
So far, the three meetings of the religious parties have been unable to reach a consensus on the revival of the MMA with Fazl wanting to continue in the Centre as well. Hence, hopes for the revival of the six-party religious alliance fade for the time being.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/07/2010
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Top|| File under: Jamaat-e-Ulema Islami
#1
"Befooled"? Bewildered, bewitched or bumfuzzled maybe.
Commander of Iran's Army, Major General Ataollah Salehi, has warned Iran's enemies of a 'crushing defeat' should they risk encroaching on the country's sovereignty.
"The army is ready to deal a heavy blow to any aggressors against Iran territories," Fars news agency quoted General Salehi as saying on the sidelines of an aerial maneuver in Iran's western Hamedan Province on Friday.
He also said that the Islamic Republic army will continue to carry out war games in order to stay abreast of the latest defense tactics and to maintain its readiness against possible trespasses.
General Salehi also pointed out that Iran's military drills pose no threats to friendly states and only the hostiles should be warned.
The army chief further explained that Iran's military has strengthened its capacities to repair and upgrade defense systems and the major portion of work is conducted domestically.
The weeklong aerial maneuvers of the Islamic Republic Air Force (IRAF) will last until August 7.
The IRAF fighters, including the F-4, F-5, F-7 and the Sukhoi SU-24 fighter jets, also practiced aerial gunnery, hitting air-to-ground targets, and overnight operations for the first time in the drills that also showcased a number of Iran Pehpad drones.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/07/2010
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Top|| File under: Govt of Iran
#1
When you have to say things like, "The army is ready to deal a heavy blow to any aggressors against Iran territories" then it simply isn't true. The USA doesn't constantly have to state that "The US is ready to glass Iran using less than one trident submarine". It just doesn't need to.
Posted by: Mike Ramsey ||
08/07/2010 6:53
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#2
The current unpleasantness with Iran is simply an ongoing legacy of our unfinished business in Tehran, which hit a low point on November 4, 1979. A more definitive case study on radical Islam might be difficult to locate.
PETERSON AIR FORCE BASE, Colorado -- The U.S. and Russia, which have more bluster than cooperation in their often-contentious history, will have their jet fighters take turns pursuing a civilian plane across the Pacific next week in a first-of-its-kind exercise to test their response to a potential international hijacking.
Aircraft and officers from Russia and the North American Aerospace Defense Command will track the civilian plane, an executive-style jet that will play the role of a hijacked civilian airliner. The goal is to test how well the two forces can hand off responsibility for the "hijacked" plane.
Also participating in operation Vigilant Eagle are both countries' civil air traffic control agencies.
Officials on both sides of the trust-building military exercise chose a mutual, modern-day interest -- the fight against terror -- to create an incident that could entangle the two countries.
"We try to anticipate any potential areas in which it might be necessary for us to launch fighter jets," said Maj. Michael S. Humphreys, a NORAD spokesman. A terrorist hijacking, he said, "is every bit as probable as any other" scenario.
It's unlikely that Vigilant Eagle was devised to deal with a specific threat, said John Pike, director of Globalsecurity.org, which tracks military and homeland security news. The purpose is more likely a combination of confidence-building and rooting out any communication and jurisdictional problems before they crop up in a real emergency, he said.
Pike cited the Korean Air Lines flight that the Soviet Union shot down in 1983, killing 269 people. There was an "interface" problem between the U.S. and Soviets because they were looking at different information, Pike said.
"I could easily imagine (NORAD) looked at this and said, 'We don't know if we have the phone number of Russian air defense.' This is not something you'd want to improvise on the fly."
This is the first U.S.-Russia exercise involving NORAD, a U.S.-Canadian command that patrols the skies over North America, Humphreys said. NORAD's headquarters are at Peterson Air Force Base in Colorado.
Vigilant Eagle calls for NORAD F-22s flown by U.S. pilots to follow the "hijacked" plane west across the Pacific until it gets closer to Russian airspace, where Russian MiG-31s take over. On the return trip east, the process will be reversed. Airborne warning and surveillance aircraft from each country will also take part.
Officers from Russia, Canada and the U.S. will be aboard the target plane to observe, along with an interpreter. For a short time during the handoff, fighter jets from both sides will be alongside the target plane.
Posted by: Steve White ||
08/07/2010
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#1
NATO once included authoritarian states such as Franco's Spain, Salazar's Portugal, the generals' Greece. Time for us to start figuring out how to bring Russia into the fold, and when to kick Turkey out. An alliance with Russia would be difficult but hugely beneficial to both sides.
One person was killed and another injured on Thursday, when unidentified assailants opened fire on a NATO oil tanker at Airport Road in the suburbs of Quetta. According to official sources, the tanker was on its way to Afghanistan, when unidentified armed persons, riding a motorcycle, opened fire at the tanker near the Baleli check post. As a result, driver Dilawar Shahwani died on the spot.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/07/2010
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Top|| File under: al-Qaeda in Pakistan
The Pakistan People's Party-led government faces a tough situation in the near future, as two of its coalition partners, the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl and the Awami National Party, in Thursday's Senate session, demanded that Karachi be handed over to the army in order to resolve the law and order situation in the city.
Members of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement staged a walkout from the proceedings, alleging that the federal and the Sindh government were not taking any measures to stop the bloodshed in the country's financial hub.
In a charged atmosphere where members were demanding to be allowed to speak, acting chairman Jan Jamali rescued the government by abruptly reading the prorogation order to avoid a potential clash between component parties in the ruling coalition.
The session is scheduled to continue until today (Friday). The leader of the House made an aborted attempt to cool down the situation by saying that it was the provincial government, which could request the army to take control of any troubled area and in case of Karachi, it was the Sindh government that can call the army if it felt like it.
Participating in the debate, Senator Haji Adeel said that police, rangers and other law enforcement agencies, as well as the provincial government, had failed to stop target killing of Pakhtuns in Karachi. He urged the government to call the army in Karachi to restore peace in the city.
Federal Minister for Science and Technology Azam Swati said the situation in Karachi was worsening by the day. "If you want to save Karachi, the face and index of Pakistan, then de-weaponies it. Police and rangers have failed to maintain peace in the city so the deployment of the armed forces is inevitable," he said.
Leader of the House, Senator Nayyar Hussain Bukhari said that warfare in the city was the provincial government's subject, which could request the army to take control of any troubled area in the city.
He said the country was faced with a critical situation and if it did not tackle the issue on time, future generations would never pardon the country's current leadership. "There should be ban on display of arms and only that can guarantee the restoration of peace in Karachi," he added.
MQM member Tahir Mashhadi said the interior minister had sought 24 hours to restore peace in Karachi, but the situation was worsening day by day. He said the minister had informed the House about the involvement of Sipah-e-Sahaba in killing a party MPA, but so far no action has been taken against the perpetrators. Also, senators belonging to the MQM walked out of the proceeding in protest against target killings in Karachi.
Muhammad Ali Durrani requested all political parties in Karachi to hold a peace march in the city to exhibit political unity, describing it as the only possible solution.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/07/2010
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Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan
The US said on Thursday that despite major setbacks, Al Qaeda's core in Pakistan is the "most formidable" terrorist group threatening the US, along with affiliates in Yemen and Africa.
In an annual report, the State Department said it also learned that Americans were not immune to the spell of militancy, with some of them hooking up last year with radicals in Pakistan and Somalia. "Al Qaeda's core in Pakistan remained during 2009 the most formidable terrorist organisation targeting the United States," the State Department's counter-terrorism coordinator Daniel Benjamin told reporters.
"It has proven to be an adaptable and resilient terrorist group whose desire to attack the US and its interests abroad remains strong," Benjamin said, reading from the Country Reports on Terrorism 2009. "We assess that Al Qaeda was actively engaged in operational planning against the US and continued recruiting, training and deploying operatives, including individuals from Western Europe and North America."
Al Qaeda, from its safe haven in Pakistan, is helping train and fund the Taliban-led insurgency in Afghanistan, where it "remained resilient in the south and east and expanded its presence into the north and west," the report said. In Afghanistan, despite some heavy losses among militants and their leaders, the Taliban's "ability to recruit foot soldiers from its core base of rural Pashtuns remained undiminished," the report said.
In Pakistan, there was still "rising militancy and extremism," it said. Al Qaeda militants, Afghan insurgents and others, it said, are using "safe havens" in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA), Baluchistan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, southern Punjab, and other parts of Pakistan. But Benjamin repeated the US contention that Pakistan is now tackling seriously the threat from militants.
The report said that Al Qaeda reeled under a Pakistani military onslaught, has lost many of its leaders, and has found it "tougher to raise money, train recruits and plan attacks" outside Pakistan and Afghanistan. It also said Al Qaeda has suffered from a Muslim public backlash as its militants and allies have staged indiscriminate attacks hitting Muslims in Algeria, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, Indonesia, and elsewhere.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/07/2010
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During the afternoon of 5 Aug 2010, the MV SYRIA STAR reported that she was under attack from pirates who had climbed onboard and fired shots at the crew. Helicopters were immediately dispatched to the vessel and tried to establish communications with the SYRIA STAR, which had stopped in the water. They found an abandoned skiff nearby, containing fuel and ammunition. When warships arrived on the scene shortly after, the SYRIA STAR had reversed course and was heading South East back towards the Horn of Africa under the control of the pirates, who refused to respond to radio contact.
The SYRIA STAR was sailing west in the Internationally Recommended Transit Corridor through the Gulf of Aden with a cargo of sugar. The SYRIA STAR, deadweight 18, 838 tonnes, is flagged to St Vincent and the Grenadines and has a predominantly Syrian crew, with 22 Syrians and 2 Egyptians.
#1
My paranoia side says it's a ploy to make Syria look like another victim of terrorists. Every body knows they are a nice, kind, and gentler terrorist supporters. So, is this a way to smuggle goods for these, "pirates," or is it really a problem of pirates?
ADEN - Gunmen riding motorcycles attacked a checkpoint in southern Yemen on Thursday, killing three soldiers before fleeing, a security official said.
They were able to get away after opening fire, the official told Reuters from the southern city of Zinjibar. We are not ruling out that the attackers may have been from al Qaeda.
On Tuesday, a suspected al Qaeda suicide bomber sped on a motorcycle to an office of the security forces in the southern city of Dalea and blew himself up, injuring eight soldiers.
Posted by: Steve White ||
08/07/2010
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[Iran Press TV Latest] At least nine members of a private security firm have been killed in a roadside bombing in eastern Afghanistan, local Afghan officials say.
The bomb blast damaged a car carrying security firm workers in the village of Asmar in Kunar province late on Thursday, a Press TV correspondent reported.
Local officials said the nine people killed were working for a road construction company.
No further details on the nationality of the security guards who were killed have been disclosed.
The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack, a spokesman for the militant group said in a statement.
Mercenaries of the infamous private security firm Xe, formerly known as Blackwater, have contracts to provide security in Afghanistan, but the private security firm that the nine men worked for has not been identified.
In the June 4 edition of The Wall Street Journal, it was reported that Xe's most recent government contract tasked the group with protecting CIA bases in Afghanistan.
The report was confirmed at the end of June by Central Intelligence Agency Director Leon Panetta during a TV interview, the newspaper wrote.
Blackwater/Xe mercs were hated by the Iraqis during their time in that country because they were able to kill many civilians with impunity.
Over the past few months, public opinion has been turning against the war in the United States and other countries, and thus US President Barack Obama's upbeat assessments about progress in the Afghan war will probably not go down well at home or abroad.
The death toll for US service members stationed in Afghanistan reached 66 for the month of July 2010, making it the deadliest month for US troops deployed in the Central Asian nation since the conflict began in October 2001.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/07/2010
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Top|| File under: Taliban
#1
In other news R-Burgers, it seems a few Pseudo-Médecins Sans Frontières got did up north. Talk about biting the hand that heals you!
#7
I've been in some pretty crappy situations both in Iraq and Afghanistan, but for all-around shittyness I think Somalia takes the cake. I can empathize with you OS, those Wadi's can make for a pretty big pickle if you in em, as opposed to overwatching em! Shittyness? Whoa! I think I just invented a new word to add to the Bodyguard Dictionary! Woo-Hoo! All is well, living the dream.
#8
if you in em This is why you shouldn't try to type with your laptop propped up on your belly. Shoulda been an "are" somwehere in there. Hooked on Ebonics worked for my dumb ass! Lotp, we're bellying up to the lounge for some of your Famous BBQ, I can smell the smoke all the way over here!
#10
Bodyguard---at that temperature, you are going to need a lot larger radiator!!!!! Drink plenty of wawa and stay safe. Hell, the Nevada Test Site was cakewalk compared to where you are.
You have my total respect!
Posted by: Alaska Paul at ANC ||
08/07/2010 17:26
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The Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT) Police took a U-turn on Thursday regarding the killing of an alleged terrorist Zahirud Din in G-8 on Wednesday and claimed that his own fellow shot him dead.
Daily Times has learnt that Deputy Inspector General (DIG) of Police (operations) Binyamin was also seen at the time of operation against the alleged terrorists.
The police in a press release issued on Wednesday claimed that Constable Muhammad Anwar opened fire on the fleeing terrorists. One fire hit on the head of one of the terrorists while the police team overpowered the other, while the third one managed to escape under the cover of fire. After that Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Tahir Alam announced in a press conference that Zahir was a terrorist and he had links with robber Nanu Guraya. He also said Zahir wanted to murder Interior Minister Rehman Malik.
Later on, a First Information Report (FIR) No 450 was registered with Margalla Police Station under sections 324/353, 186, 13/20/65 and 7ATA in which police claimed that Zahirud Din died in firing by his companions. The crime diary issued by Inspector Muhammad Ashraf, reader of SSP Islamabad clearly mentions it, which contradicts earlier press release of police and the SSP's claim in his press conference.
On Thursday police again issued a press release claiming that they have arrested several people after the surprising revelations by the person arrested during encounter on Wednesday.
According to the press release, the DIG (Operations) said police had obtained seven days physical remand of nabbed person Rana Zafar Iqbal from the court concerned and several arrests have been made after the information provided by him during the preliminary investigation.
The persons who witnessed the Wednesday operation told Daily Times that the DIG operation was already present at the place of incident. They said Zaheerud Din came there alone and after seeing the police he tried to escape. They said on this the DIG ordered police to shoot him on the legs but the police official shot him on the head. Only one bullet was fired at the place of incident so police claim that they exchanged fires with terrorists was totally wrong, they said on condition of anonymity.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/07/2010
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The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) expressed concerns over human rights violations in Swat in a report released on Thursday.
The report of a fact-finding mission to Swat acknowledged improvement in the law and order situation in the militancy-hit region, but raised concerns over condition of detainees and performance of courts, expulsion of families of suspected militants from towns and reports of excesses by the security forces. Preliminary findings of the fact-finding mission had been released to the media earlier.
The report, entitled "Swat: Paradise Regained?", highlights the specific concerns for women and children in the region, especially their psychological needs, and the need for compensating citizens whose properties have been taken over by the security forces and those who have been ordered not to cultivate their lands as they desire.
The report notes concerns of the local population that the Taliban leadership continued to be at large and could stage a comeback once the army was withdrawn from Swat. The HRCP team learned that 1,000 to 2,600 individuals were in the security forces' custody in Swat and had not been produced in any court.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/07/2010
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[Dawn] Pakistan's President Asif Ali Zardari said on Friday he is willing to consider negotiations with the Taliban in his country a statement that came amid accusations he has failed to do enough to tackle terrorism.
Zardari told The Associated Press that his country had never closed the door to talks with the Taliban.
"We never closed the dialogue," Zardari told the AP, skirting the question of when talks could resume. "We had an agreement, which they broke. Talks will resume whenever they feel we're strong enough and they can't win, because they won't win."
Last year, the government struck a deal with the Taliban in the Swat Valley that gave them effective control over the region. The militants did not abide by the agreement and moved into another region, prompting an all-out offensive by the Pakistani army.
Still, some politicians and their supporters support the idea of talking with the Taliban. They typically share the aims of the movement in wanting an Islamist state free from US influence.
The United States and Pakistan's other Western allies have been urging the country to continue fighting the Pakistani Taliban, not talk to them. The movement has been behind dozens of bloody attacks inside Pakistan that have killed thousands over the last three years. What the West wants is for Pakistan to expand and go after other groups.
The group, which is loosely based in the tribal regions close to the Afghan border, was involved in the failed Times Square car bombing and the suicide attack on a CIA base in December in Afghanistan that killed seven CIA employees. It has links with al-Qaida and the Afghan Taliban fighting across the border in Afghanistan.
Over the last four years, Pakistan has tried negotiating with militant groups operating in the northwest. But the truces have quickly broken down and typically allowed them to regroup and emerge stronger.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/07/2010
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#1
-First problem, they made an agreement with a terrorist group.
-Second problem, after having made this agreement, they expected these jihadists to keep it?
-Third, they are trying to be nice to terrorists again?
#2
Still, some politicians and their supporters support the idea of talking with the Taliban. They typically share the dope and arms smuggling aims of the movement in wanting an Islamist utopian state free from the evil infidel US influence.
ARBIL / Aswat al-Iraq: A delegation of the Kurdistan blocs will arrive in Baghdad on Saturday to start officials negotiations with the Iraqi blocs to from the government, a well-informed source said on Friday.
The delegation will return to Baghdad on Saturday (Aug. 7) to start official negotiations with al-Iraqiya Alliance, Dawlat al-Qanoon and the Iraqi National Alliance to form the new government, the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.
The political chessboard in Iraq has been experiencing non-stop differences among the key blocs that won seats in the March 2010 legislative elections over the premiership and the government formation, namely between Malikis Dawlat al-Qanoon (State of Law) and former Premier Iyad Allawis al-Iraqiya bloc.
Several parliament sessions were postponed while the set constitutional deadline to election a new speaker and a president of a republic was breached.
The elections saw al-Iraqiya winning 91 seats, followed by Malikis State of Law with 89 seats, the Iraqi National Alliance (INA), which comprises Ammar al-Hakims Supreme Islamic Iraqi Council (SIIC), Muqtada al-Sadrs Movement and Fadila (Virtue) Party, with 70 seats and the Kurdistan Alliance (KA) with 57 seats.
The results prompt coalitions of several parties to guarantee a required majority at the 325-seat parliament in order to form a government.
Posted by: Steve White ||
08/07/2010
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[Dawn] Al-Qaida in Iraq has begun offering cash to lure back former Sunni allies angry over the government's failure to give them jobs and pay their salaries on time, according to Sunni tribesmen and Iraqi officials.
The recruitment drive adds to worries that the terror network is attempting a comeback after the deaths of its two top leaders in April and is taking advantage of a summer of uncertainty. The political stalemate in Baghdad is entering its sixth month after inconclusive elections, just as the U.S. military is rapidly drawing down its forces.
Al-Qaida's strategy is to provoke the Shiite majority into launching revenge attacks a development that could re-ignite open warfare, split the Iraqi security forces along sectarian lines and cement al-Qaida's leadership role among Sunnis.
But if the extremists are unable to win back their former Sunni allies, it would be difficult for them to rebound as a significant threat though al-Qaida could continue to be a deadly nuisance for years to come.
Al-Qaida's overtures in recent weeks are notable because its militants have killed hundreds of former allies over the past two years, setting off blood vendettas between the Sunni extremist group and others in the Iraqi Sunni community. Many former insurgents also disliked al-Qaida's imposition of a strict interpretation of Islam in areas under its control.
But tribesmen said the need for cash to feed their families is pushing some lower-ranking former al-Qaida in Iraq members to rejoin the terror group and that al-Qaida's presence is growing in Anbar province west of the capital.
''The government must help us counter the resurrection of al-Qaida in Anbar,'' warned Mahmoud Shaker, an influential tribesman from the province's Habbaniyah district.
Others warned that the recruitment could help al-Qaida gain ground elsewhere in Iraq.
''I expect that if salaries continue to be paid late, Sahwa members will themselves seek to rejoin al-Qaida,'' said Rafia Adel, referring to the Sunni tribesmen who turned against al-Qaida and sided with the US military and the government. Adel is a senior Sahwa leader from the city of Beiji in Salaheddin province.
Al-Qaida is also exploiting continuing resentment by the Sunnis over their second-class status in Iraq since the fall of Saddam Hussein particularly in Baghdad, which had been a Sunni-dominated city for 1,000 years.
The 2006 and 2007 revolt by Sunni tribesmen against al-Qaida dramatically changed the course of the war. Former insurgents were organized into Awakening Councils, or Sahwa, to help US and Iraqi troops fight al-Qaida.
The US military initially supervised and paid the salaries of the Sahwa fighters, whose numbers peaked to about 100,000 in 2008. The Iraqi government took over the Sahwa from the Americans last year, agreeing to give at least 20 per cent of the fighter's police and government jobs and to pay the rest to maintain security in Sunni areas. Other fighters simply returned to their old jobs.
Nowadays, the government pays the salaries of its estimated 650,000-strong police and army on time, including the estimated 20,000 Sahwa fighters who have been assimilated into the security forces.
But the remaining fighters on the government payroll go without their checks, in some cases for as long as three months. The government cites lack of funds or bureaucratic snags for the delays.
Another Sahwa complaint is that the government detained scores of its leaders on terrorism charges last year. Although most detainees were released often because of US pressure the arrests were seen as a humiliation.
Exploiting these grievances, al-Qaida operatives are approaching disgruntled Sahwa members with cash offers and telling them the government's repeated failure to pay their wages on time is helping al-Qaida's recruitment drive, according to four senior Sahwa leaders two in the Baghdad area and two in the mainly Sunni provinces of Anbar and Salaheddin.
They said al-Qaida was in most cases offering to top by $100 or more the average monthly salary of a Sahwa member, which ranges between $250 and $300.
''Al-Qaida is spending a great deal of money to win back members of the Sahwa,'' Adel said.
Al-Qaida in Iraq is thought to fund itself through private donations from sympathetic businessmen and charities in the Arab world and, increasingly, the robbery of banks, money changers and jewelry stores in Iraq. It is also rumored to be involved in kidnap-for-ransom operations.
US officials believe al-Qaida in Iraq no longer has ties to the overall al-Qaida leadership, believed to be in Pakistan.
A senior Iraqi security official said he was aware of al-Qaida's overtures to Sahwa members, adding that cash offers came in letters and messages sent through intermediaries to tribal chiefs in charge of Sahwa groups across Iraq. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/07/2010
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VIENNA - Iran has begun using extra equipment installed earlier this year to enrich uranium more efficiently, stepping up its nuclear work despite U.N. sanctions, a Western think-tank said on Friday. The Institute for Science and International Security said on its website that Iran was now using a second set, or cascade, of centrifuge machines at its Natanz pilot plant. It did not disclose the source of its information.
Iran has been producing low-enriched uranium for some time and announced in February that it had started enriching uranium to a higher, 20 percent, level to make fuel for a medical research reactor.
Analysts said the single cascade of machines Iran was using for the higher-level enrichment was inefficient because it left over a large quantity of low-enriched uranium alongside the highly enriched material.
The International Atomic Energy Agency, the U.N. nuclear watchdog, said Iran had subsequently installed a second cascade of centrifuge machines but had not begun using it.
A Vienna-based diplomat with knowledge of the IAEA investigation of Irans nuclear programme said the Iranians had been preparing the second cascade of machines for use in recent weeks. Use of the second cascade allows leftover material to be re-fed into the machines more easily, obtaining its full potential and making the work more efficient.
ISIS has learned that Iran is now using the second cascade at the Pilot Fuel Enrichment Plant (PFEP) at Natanz to recycle the tails from the first cascade, ISIS said in its note.
ISIS said the use of the second cascade meant the plant now needed less low-enriched uranium (LEU) than before to produce the same amount of 20-percent enriched uranium. It did not mean the output or enrichment level would increase, ISIS said.
Western diplomats have said in the past that the second cascade could be reconfigured to enrich uranium to the higher level needed for use in nuclear weapons, a concern echoed by ISIS.
If Iran enriches to weapon-grade uranium, however, it is expected to use the same type of procedure, ISIS said. Thus, Irans current actions, while superficially justified on civil grounds, mainly make sense in the context of learning how to make significant quantities of highly enriched uranium efficiently.
Tehran has said it was forced to enrich uranium to 20 percent purity after the breakdown of a deal with Western powers and the IAEA, under which it would have sent 1,200 kg of its low-enriched uranium abroad in return for fuel rods for its medical reactor.
Posted by: Steve White ||
08/07/2010
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#1
TOPIX/WORLDNEWS > REPORT: IRAN. NORTH KOREA MAY SHARE NUCLEAR TEHCNOLOGY [Nukes].
SOUTH KOREAN OFFICIAL wants ROK to declare IRAN a NATIONAL SECURITY THREAT TO SOUTH KOREA oer possible NucTechs-sharing wid the DPRK.
* SAME > {CSM.com] CHINA IS A BAROMETER ON WHETHER ISRAEL WILL ATTACK NUCLEAR PLANTS IN IRAN.
* SAME > [NewsVine, CFR + Mike Hayden] IFF IRAN CAME CLOSE TO GETTING A NUCLEAR WEAPON, WOULD OBAMA USE [Military]FORCE?; + THE CLOCK TICKS ON OBAMA ACTION AGZ IRAN.
* SAME > IRAN'S ATTEMPTS TO PROJECT POWER + IRAN WANTS STRONG ALLIANCE WID AFGHANISTAN AND TAJIKISTAN.
* TOPIX > TURKEY, RUSSIA TO SET UP NEW "SECURITY ZONE" IN REGION.
* TOPIX/WORLD NEWS > IRAN WARNS OF "UNFORESEEN CONSEQUENCES" IN CASE OF US ATTACK,
[Arab News] Imprisoned Palestinian leader Marwan Barghouti has harshly criticized the Palestinian Authority for negotiating with Israel, saying both direct and indirect negotiations are pointless.
Barghouti, a member of Fatah's Central Committee, was sentenced by an Israeli court to five life sentences in 2004 following his implication in terrorist attacks against Israelis during the Second Intifada.
"Israel uses negotiations as a cover for continuing its policies of Jewish domination, settlement, incursion and siege," Barghouti told the Arabic daily Asharq Al-Awsat in a message from his prison cell. "There are no de Gaulles or de Klerks in Israel, but only extremist leaders who cling to the mentality of occupation, settlement and racism."
Barghouti was quoted as telling his lawyer Elias Sabbagh that negotiations should only begin after Israel explicitly states its commitment to withdraw to 1967 borders. He added that Israel must acknowledge the Palestinian right to establish a fully sovereign state with Jerusalem as its capital, to release all Palestinian prisoners, and to set a timetable of several months for negotiations.
But in a conversation with The Media Line, attorney Sabbagh denied speaking to Asharq Al-Awsat on the matter.
Ambassador Majdi Al-Khaldi, an adviser to Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, said it was not up to Barghouti to make policy.
"The decision to enter into negotiations with Israel is an Arab and Palestinian decision," he told the Media Line. "It's not a personal matter. There are Palestinian institutions that make these decisions, and it's not up to private people."
"Usually such personal statements are intended to show that there is a problem, namely that the Israeli side has presented no position," Al-Khaldi said. "Many people on the Palestinian street are pressuring the leadership not to enter into direct negotiations without a clear premise, including a settlement freeze."
Israeli parliamentarian Haim Oron, head of the left-wing Meretz party who meets regularly with Barghouti in prison, declined to comment on the article but said he agreed that without an explicit Israeli statement endorsing the 1967 borders and Jerusalem as a joint capital "nothing would come of direct negotiations, even if they resumed following American pressure."
"Negotiations in various forms have been under way for the past 15-20 years," Oron said. "They should resume from the point they had stopped."
Many consider Barghouti a moderate alternative to Abbas. His latest statement, however, seems more like an overture to Hamas and the Palestinian resistance. How screwed up is a place when the guy doing life in prison is considered the "moderate alternative"?
"We must achieve national reconciliation, end the state of division (between Fatah and Hamas) and allow the popular resistance to act freely nationwide," he said.
A frustrated Barghouti harshly criticized the Palestinian leadership for forsaking prisoners in Israeli jails.
"The leadership does not exert the slightest effort for our release, and there is a clear neglect of the prisoner issue," he said. "It is not on the agenda of the Palestinian leadership."
Osama Al-Ghoul, head of the information department in the Palestinian Ministry of Detainees, argued the government was doing its best to achieve the release of Palestinian prisoners.
"We exert our best efforts within the framework of what is possible," he said. "We in the ministry cannot release the prisoners by force, and our primary concern is improving prisoners' conditions in jail pending their release."
Ahmad Assaf, a spokesman for Fatah, said that Barghouti was a senior member of the party and as such his opinions carried weight.
"Like all Fatah members, (Barghouti) would prefer to see change taking place faster on two fronts: the occupation and the internal rift with Hamas," he said.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/07/2010
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#1
An entire populace that defines their entire lives around killing Jews and taking Israel. Thats the bottom line.
#2
Barghouti was quoted as telling his lawyer Elias Sabbagh that negotiations should only begin after Israel explicitly states its commitment to withdraw to 1967 borders. He added that Israel must acknowledge the Palestinian right to establish a fully sovereign state with Jerusalem as its capital, to release all Palestinian prisoners, and to set a timetable of several months for negotiations.
He means when hell freezes over. I am sure that he is used to disappointment by now.
Posted by: Mike Ramsey ||
08/07/2010 7:33
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well, he certainly sounds rehabilitated
Posted by: Frank G on the road ||
08/07/2010 9:47
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[Dawn] The United States and the United Nations on Friday designated Pakistan's Harakat-ul Jihad al-Islami as a "Foreign Terrorist Organization" and targeted its commander for supporting acts of terrorism, the US Treasury Department said.
They're just now getting around to what we've known for a while ...
Mohammad Ilyas Kashmiri, who the United States labeled a "Specially Designated Global Terrorist," will have any of his assets frozen in US jurisdiction, and the move will also "prohibit US persons from engaging in any transactions with him."The United Nations, according to the Treasury Department, has taken similar action against HUJI and Kashmiri.
As the militant group's leader, US officials said 46-year-old Kashmiri "provides support to Al-Qaeda operations, including logistical support for Al-Qaeda's terrorist attacks," the Treasury Department said in detailing deadly assaults on Pakistani government personnel and facilities.
"In acting together, the United States and United Nations are today taking another important step in combating the threat that Al-Qaeda and its affiliated organizations pose to innocent people around the world," said Stuart Levey, the US under secretary for terrorism and financial intelligence.
HUJI's area of operation, said the Treasury Department, extends "throughout South Asia," but the arena for its terrorist activity remains mainly in India and Pakistan.
It also provided fighters to the Taliban fighting international forces in Afghanistan, and members of HUJI have trained in Al-Qaeda camps, said officials.
Among the attacks listed by the Treasury was a March 2006 suicide bombing on the US consulate in Karachi that killed four people, and injured 48 others.
Kashmiri was also accused of involvement in an attack on the Jyllands-Posten newspaper in Denmark, following uproar over cartoons depicting the Prophet Mohammed.
David Coleman Headley, the Chicago man accused of scouting for the deadly 2008 Mumbai siege and a plot to kill a Danish cartoonist, worked with HUJI on the Danish plot, according to charges unveiled in March.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/07/2010
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NEWS KERALA > US REPORT: INDIA FACES NUMEROUS SIGNIFICANT INTERNAL, EXTERNAL TERROR THREATS.
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
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Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
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Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina said that Jesus's Golden Rule inspired him to vote to confirm Elena Kagan to the U.S. Supreme Court and suggested it would be a good thing for his Senate colleagues to also ponder Jesus's words as they prepared to vote on Kagan.
Brown is the Democratic nominee for governor on the November ballot and he previously called the ban unconstitutional. 
[Al Arabiya Latest] Stormy weather grounded helicopters carrying emergency supplies to Pakistan's flood-ravaged northwest Friday as authorities said 12 million people had been effected and 650,000 houses destroyed in the disaster.
GAZA CITY (Ma'an) — Gaza police said a home-made projectile exploded before it was launched from west of Beit Lahiya in the northern Gaza Strip on Friday. 
With the district in a financial crisis and hundreds of its members facing layoffs, the Milwaukee teachers union is taking a peculiar stand: fighting to get its taxpayer-funded Viagra back.
[Dawn] India's interior minister hinted on Friday that Pakistan could be behind weeks of violent anti-India protests in the disputed Kashmir region, a move that could hurt the countries attempts to improve ties.
During the afternoon of 5 Aug 2010, the MV SYRIA STAR reported that she was under attack from pirates who had climbed onboard and fired shots at the crew. Helicopters were immediately dispatched to the vessel and tried to establish communications with the SYRIA STAR, which had stopped in the water. They found an abandoned skiff nearby, containing fuel and ammunition. When warships arrived on the scene shortly after, the SYRIA STAR had reversed course and was heading South East back towards the Horn of Africa under the control of the pirates, who refused to respond to radio contact.
[Arab News] Imprisoned Palestinian leader Marwan Barghouti has harshly criticized the Palestinian Authority for negotiating with Israel, saying both direct and indirect negotiations are pointless.
