Bet this 'flips' over the weekend to somehow being Palin/McCain's fault ("They didn't tell us, etc."). Bet the beast (or even the Big O or 'Plugs') shows up anyway ("Mistakes were made...under the bus...etc.").
Posted by: Mullah Richard ||
09/17/2008 22:39
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Or is this particular ‘person’ just a pathetic human stain in our world?
What is this young womanÂ’s pregnancy to him? SheÂ’s NOT filing for welfare or government assistance that would suck-on his tax dollars. How is her pregnancy and her baby any business of his? Exactly how low below the fucking dog-pissed curb does someone have to be to initiate such a public display of flashing the miniscule size of his pubic equipment?
I want this slug to tell me in full detail exactly how he is directly effected by this young womanÂ’s pregnancy and her baby? And a footnote, those same qualifications regarding her older brotherÂ’s volunteering for military service to this country?
At what point does such pathetic levels of narcissism become public masturbation?
The BVD brown-stain calls himself a ‘comedian’ who knows how and what buttons to push.
That’s nice. I’m happy for him. And I am certain that forces in the world, such as BAD “instant karma” WILL someday catch-up with him … and reward him for all the positive energy he has farted forth in his adult life.
Me? I am 99% certain I wouldnÂ’t spit or piss on him were he afire. The remaining 1% attributed to any danger his stinking blaze might present to surrounding structures and/or other more worthy humans.
THESE are the kinds of ‘people’ who are Obama’s biggest supporters and champions. Personally, if I had people like this in my corner … I’d take a long hard look at myself in a mirror.
Read the whole thing at the link (with videos)
Posted by: DanNY ||
09/17/2008
19:28 ||
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Look this is sad, but on the other hand I did set up a trust fund back in 1998 to fund a $50 million payout to Chelsea for tying her tubes. Crude yes, politics, yep.
Bisbee is noted for its gay-friendliness [5] [6], and its Gay Pride Days is considered one of the top 5 rural Gay Prides in the United States by the online site at gay.com. Bisbee gays have their own website at bisbeepride.com This year's (2008) Bisbee Gay Pride celebrations included a Leather and Lace Street Party, poolside BBQ, a lingerie pub crawl, the Bert Lundy Dance Party, and a turn-of-the-century ball. [7] Ten U.S. AIDS Memorial Quilt panels were on display at Bisbee's famed Copper Queen Hotel.
Republican Vice Presidential candidate Sarah Palin's Yahoo Mail account has been hacked and selected information from the account has been posted on Wikileaks, an online repository for documents.
The summary posted on Wikileaks reads thus: "Circa midnight Tuesday the 16th of September (EST) activists loosely affiliated with the group 'anonymous' gained access to U.S. Republican Party Vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin's Yahoo e-mail account gov.palin@yahoo.com and passed information to Wikileaks. Governor Palin has come under criticism for using private e-mail accounts to conduct government business and in the process avoid transparency laws."
Read the rest at the link.
See also:
http://michellemalkin.com/2008/09/17/sarah-palins-private-e-mail-hacked-family-photos-raided/
The war on Sarah Palin continues unabated.
Posted by: DanNY ||
09/17/2008
19:23 ||
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Eek! Sorry this should be in Non-WOT.
Posted by: DanNY ||
09/17/2008 19:27
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If the Evil Bush/Chaney cabal did this to Obama's mail, we'd all hear Nazi, Tyrant, Dictator [well, we hear that anyway, but the point being once again its the left that acts in a Freudian manner], Violating Privacy! Conspiracy!
#3
It looks like she was using it for family business, which doesn't belong on the govt. email anyway. They called her daughter and got her voicemail, prolly would have said god knows what if she answered. They are flipping out and losing their minds, god help us all if these nutjobs win in Nov. we'll have lunatics running the country.
Posted by: Bob Glemble5143 ||
09/17/2008 23:05
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#4
boy if they hacked my old yahoo account and found some of ".com"s e-mail they would have cardiac arrests.....
#5
I saw the usual slime-balls on TV tonight justifying it because she might have done business on her personal account and thus might be beyond a subpoena of her govn't acct.
Aren't these the same people who wanted to protect the e-mails of terrorists?
The left just keeps getting more and more repulsive every day.
#3
"The company said we aren't going to give you any time to pray, but this is a free country," said Ahmed Abdi, a spokesman for the largely Somalian group, who formerly worked at the plant. "We are Muslim and this country is about freedom."
I think he missed the part about freedom to do what you want on your own time, not on the company's time.
#4
They don't quite get the freedom thingy do they? Well its a new concept, being muslim and all. I hope swift gives them a little "foot meets ass" and solves the whole damned thing. I bet they'd want to talk reasonable if a couple bus loads of mexicans showed up on monday morning.
Posted by: Bob Glemble5143 ||
09/17/2008 23:21
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They don't quite get the freedom thingy do they?
In talking to some immigrants, I've discovered that their idea of "freedom" is the freedom to do whatever they want, in the sense of winning every political dispute and doing things that cost other people in terms of money and inconvenience. In other words, if they don't get their way on Israel, we're not free. If they can't hawk up a loogie and spit it on the sidewalk without dirty looks, we're racist.
John McCainÂ’s campaign says the Republican is picking up the support of a top Hillary Clinton fundraiser and member of the Democratic National CommitteeÂ’s Platform Committee.
Lynn Forester de Rothschild has said she thinks Democratic nominee Barack Obama is arrogant and has a problem connecting with average Americans.
Rothschild is a member of the DNCÂ’s Democrats Abroad chapter and splits her time living in London and New York. She was one of ClintonÂ’s top fundraisers, bringing in more than $100,000 for her presidential campaign. She built a multimillion-dollar telecommunications company before marrying international banker Sir Evelyn de Rothschild.
Rothschild plans to announce her support for McCain on Wednesday in Washington.
The panic in world credit markets reached historic intensity on Wednesday, prompting a flight to safety of the kind not seen since the second world war.
Barometers of financial stress hit record peaks across the world. Yields on short-term US Treasuries hit their lowest level since the London Blitz. Lending between banks in effect halted and investors scrambled to pull their funding from any institution or sector whose future had been called into doubt.
The $85bn emergency Federal Reserve loan for the troubled insurance group AIG, announced on Tuesday night, failed to curb the surge in risk aversion. Instead, markets were hit by a fresh wave of anxiety.
Speculation mounted that the Federal Reserve, which refused to cut rates on Tuesday, could be forced into an embarrassing U-turn. Amid the financial chaos, traders were pricing in 32 basis points of rate cuts by the end of the month — essentially betting that there was a 60 per cent chance the Fed would cut rates by half a percentage point in the coming days.
One cause for fear came when shares in a supposedly safe money market mutual fund fell below par value — or "broke the buck" — owing to losses on Lehman Brothers debt. This raised the risk that retail investors in other such funds could panic and pull out their money.
All thought of profit was abandoned as traders piled in to the safety of short-term treasuries, with the yield on three-month bills falling as low as 0.03 per cent — rates that characterised the "lost decade" in Japan. The last time they were this low was January 1941.
Shares in the two largest independent US investment banks left standing — Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs — fell 24 per cent and 14 per cent respectively as the cost of insuring their debt soared, threatening their ability to finance themselves .
Repercussions were felt far beyond the US. There was turbulent trading in HBOS, a leading UK mortgage lender, which was forced — at the prompting of the British government — to enter into merger talks with fellow retail bank Lloyds TSB after drastic falls in its share price.
Lending between banks in Europe and the US in effect halted. The so-called Ted spread — the difference between three-month Libor and Treasury bill rates, which measures fear over banks — moved above 3 per cent, higher than the record close after the Black Monday crash of 1987.
The authorities fired back, with the Treasury announcing it would borrow money to give to the Fed to use for its emergency lending — in essence removing any balance sheet constraint on the size of this assistance.
The Securities and Exchange Commission, the regulator, announced new curbs on short selling that traders called draconian. Short sellers, who profit from share price declines, were widely blamed for the trouble at AIG. But these efforts failed to avert heavy selling, particularly of US financial stocks.
Many analysts criticised the US authorities for adopting an arbitrary approach to rescues — saving AIG but not Lehman — that was impossible for investors to predict and therefore did nothing to boost confidence.
The S&P 500 fell 4.7 per cent, led by a 8.9 per cent slump in financials. Equity volatility was near its highest level since March. The dollar weakened slightly, while the Japanese yen rallied as risky currency funding trades were unwound.
Gold benefited from safe-haven buying, with prices at their biggest one-day precentage gain, up 11.2 per cent to a three-week high of $866.47 a troy ounce.
#2
This morning the Treasury sold $40 billion in 35 day notes, for an interest rate of 0.300%. This was not announced much ahead of time.
"Panic grips credit markets" is an exaggeration. Read up on the Panics of 1837, 1873, 1893. Those were Panics, meaning no credit available to anyone for anything, with cash shortages, otherwise viable businesses shutting down for lack of credit, and 30% unemployment. We're not anywhere close to that.
#3
LIBOR going to 6 yesterday was a big deal. What this means is that banks are not confident that they will be paid back by other banks when they lend them money for one single day. I was involved in this working for a net Fed Funds lender when Continental Illinois and First Pennsylvania collapsed in the mid '70's There was so much going on in Nam and Watergate that most people didn't notice. But there was a huge melt down then as well. Just not as many people were as wealthy and the wealth threatened was not their own home equity.
Any way, they call them panics because the fear is paralyzing. Just below combat. Hard to think of anything else close except those seconds before a life threatening experience like an automobile crash. It makes people do strange things.
Americans have been debating the fairness and efficacy of racial preferences in college and graduate school admissions for more than 30 years. Now a UCLA professor is seeking to test his hypothesis that affirmative action programs actually hurt the career prospects of minority law school graduates. But he has been hampered in his research by the indefensible failure of the State Bar of California to provide the statistics he needs.
The professor, Richard H. Sander, has requested data about the performance of white and minority law school graduates on the bar examination, along with information about the schools they attended and their grades. In resisting his request, bar officials cite the need to protect the privacy of test takers and to honor an agreement that test material will remain confidential. At the same time, some defenders of affirmative action have argued against releasing the data because they think Sander's project could have only one purpose: to discredit the idea of racial preferences.
The privacy and legal arguments strike us as spurious, a view shared by the executive director of the California First Amendment Coalition, which has joined Sander and his colleagues in asking the state Supreme Court to order the release of the information. Sander has promised that no individual student would be identified by the statistics, which would break down performance by law school.
It's also unfair to accuse Sander of seeking to dismantle racial preferences. True, his hypothesis is that affirmative action students are disserved because they derive less benefit from an elite law school than students who meet the usual admission standards. This is the "mismatch" theory, which suggests that students who are weaker than their classmates will often do better academically -- and on the bar exam -- if they attend a less-competitive school.
The mismatch theory may be mistaken. But suppose it were found to be valid? That wouldn't necessarily lead to the abolition of racial preferences. Another result might be the strengthening of mentorship and other programs to help less-well-prepared students achieve at higher levels.
An additional objection to Sander's project is that good marks on the bar exam don't guarantee success in the practice of law. Perhaps so. If the exam does a poor job of measuring the credentials of lawyers, it ought to be revised. But that has no bearing on Sander's request.
In 2003, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that carefully tailored affirmative action programs didn't violate the Constitution. California, when it approved Proposition 209 in 1996, exercised its right under that decision to outlaw racial preferences in public educational institutions. The debate over affirmative action continues.
Regardless of what we think of Sander's hypothesis, he should be given the data he seeks. Defenders of affirmative action should not fear a serious examination of how well it's working.
#1
It's amazing [but not a surprise given human behavior] that the Priests of the Law exempt themselves from the Law. Race quotas have been struck down by SCOTUS as far as being 'legal', but that hasn't stopped Law Schools and their accreditation organizations in continuing to engage in the practice. One set of rules for me, another set of rules for thee. Unfortunately, their actions make that branch of government an exclusive self selection organization that has more in culture common with the self rationalization of power of the aristocrats than a republican society. Unaccountable to the people for their power. They just grant themselves ever more.
Obama in a statement yesterday blamed the shocking new round of subprime-related bankruptcies on the free-market system, and specifically the "trickle-down" economics of the Bush administration, which he tried to gig opponent John McCain for wanting to extend.
But it was the Clinton administration, obsessed with multiculturalism, that dictated where mortgage lenders could lend, and originally helped create the market for the high-risk subprime loans now infecting like a retrovirus the balance sheets of many of Wall Street's most revered institutions.
#2
People always need a place to sleep, food, and water. This is a non-partisan issue. Investigate to see how companies maintained "No Docs" on their balance sheets for so long and so easily.
Then investigate to find the contributers / ee's, and link that with possible congressional bills that altered regulations..
Investigate to determine how to ensure this behemoth construct becomes a profit making enterprise again so we are not on the hook for this cash.
#3
Actually, the REAL culprit is the notion that real estate prices could only go up. A huge amount of economic expansion was due to the increase in home equity. I am not talking about mortgage loans to buy a house, I am talking about people who took out home equity loans and took out every cent in equity they could. People were encouraged to do it by banks, realtors, infomercials, practically everyone.
That works fine as long as home prices continue to rise and/or interest rates are falling. The moment interest rates go up, people who are leveraged to the hilt can suddenly find their equity loan payment is more than they can afford. They default and have to sell their house. That starts a chain of dominoes. More houses go up for sale, prices come down in response to oversupply. With prices coming down, others who can still make their payments find out that the bank wants them to reduce the exposure on the home equity loan and demands partial payment.
At the same time, people who had stupid reverse amortization, interest only loans discover that while their loan balance has been rising the value of their home is falling and interest rates are going up. They can't sell their home for what they owe on it.
Now all the mortgage derivatives start falling apart. That starts all the financial institutions falling apart and their own securities become worthless and everyone holding them and derivatives of THOSE lose money.
This isn't going to stop until real estate prices stabilize and that isn't going to happen for a LONG time because the baby boomers are going to be retiring. By 2011 or 2012 they will be retiring in DROVES and a lot of houses are going to hit the market.
Real estate is probably the worst investment you can make right now. If you are counting on your home equity for a retirement nest egg, you are screwed if you haven't already sold. It's too late. On the other hand, 2012 is going to be a great time to buy.
JERUSALEM (AP) - TV exit polls say Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni has won a clear victory in the party primary election to replace Prime Minister Ehud Olmert.
The polls were released a few minutes before the end of voting Wednesday night. For an outright victory, Livni needed 40 percent of the vote. The three TV exit polls gave her between 47 percent and 49 percent.
Her nearest rival, former defense minister and military chief Shaul Mofaz, received 37 percent in all three polls.
Livni is Israel's chief negotiator in peace talks with Palestinians. She favors diplomacy to solve Israel's problems, although she has said she would not hesitate to pull the trigger if necessary.
Supporters at her headquarters cheered when the TV stations broadcast their polls simultaneously.
THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below.
JERUSALEM (AP)—Israel's ruling Kadima Party voted for a new leader Wednesday, choosing between Tzipi Livni, a popular foreign minister who would be the nation's first female prime minister in more than 30 years, and Shaul Mofaz, a gruff ex-general who favors a tough line against Iran, Syria and the Palestinians.
The winner will likely be Israel's next prime minister, replacing Ehud Olmert, who is stepping down over corruption charges.
The biggest issue at stake was the future of Israel's peace talks with the Palestinians, with Livni seen as far more amenable to a final deal than Mofaz. Livni, 50, is Israel's lead negotiator in those talks.
Either candidate would make history by becoming prime minister. Livni would be the first female premier since Golda Meir. Mofaz, who was born in Iran, would be the first Israeli of Middle Eastern, or Sephardic, descent to lead the Jewish state.
Mofaz is seen as having a better chance at cobbling together a ruling coalition if he wins. But polls show Livni to be a far stronger candidate in a general election against Israel's other political star, Benjamin Netanyahu of the hard-line Likud Party.
Kadima extended voting hours by half an hour, apparently to give voters returning from work more time to cast ballots at crowded polling stations. Analysts predicted a high turnout would favor Livni, who has a wide advantage in opinion polls but who is seen not to have rallied party activists as efficiently as Mofaz.
The fact that only 74,000 party members, in a country of 7 million people, were eligible to vote added to the uncertainty of the outcome. Israeli media reported that two hours before the new closing time of 10:30 p.m. (3:30 p.m. EDT), some 40 percent of the eligible Kadima voters had cast ballots. However, voting often picks up in the evening after working hours in Israel.
Mofaz, a former chief of staff and defense minister, insisted that opinion polls that showed him trailing Livni were inaccurate.
It remained unclear if either would be able to break the 40 percent threshold needed to avoid a runoff, which, if required, would be held next week. Two other candidates, Cabinet minister Meir Sheetrit and former Shin Bet security service director Avi Dichter, lagged far behind in the polls.
The winner of the primary will have 42 days to put together a ruling coalition. Failure to do so would mean a new general election in early 2009, a year and a half ahead of schedule. Olmert will remain as a caretaker leader until a new coalition is approved by parliament.
Foreign minister since 2006, Livni is a rare female power figure in a nation dominated by macho military men and a religious establishment with strict views on the role of women. A former lawyer and one-time agent in the Mossad spy agency, Livni favors diplomacy over confrontation, even though she said last week that she has "no problem pulling the trigger when necessary."
Joyce Amiel, a Kadima supporter in Tel Aviv, said she was voting for Livni "mainly because she is a woman, even though her positions are not clear. We think she would do the best job. We want her to win."
Casting her vote in Tel Aviv, the usually reserved Livni bubbled with uncharacteristic enthusiasm. She said she was pleased with the turnout at her polling station and urged people to vote.
"You can determine today what the character of Kadima will be," Livni said. "You can determine today if you really have had enough of old-time politics. Come and vote, bring your children, and show them how you are changing the country."
Mofaz takes a tougher line, demanding the Palestinians fulfill a series of conditions before a final deal can be reached. He also is more willing to order military action in times of crisis. He spooked global oil markets in June when he said Israel would have "no choice" but to attack Iran if sanctions fail to curb its nuclear program. He has since backed away from those comments.
"The state of Israel stands before major challenges in the coming years and needs a strong leader who has the courage to decide and the ability to act," he told Army Radio.
The primary is Kadima's first since it was founded by then-Prime Minister Ariel Sharon in 2005. Sharon suffered a debilitating stroke in early 2006, and Olmert subsequently led the party to victory in elections.
Olmert, who is under police investigation over his finances, has said he will resign as soon as Kadima has a new leader. He has been carrying out intensive peace talks with the moderate Palestinian leadership in charge of the West Bank, although both he and his Palestinian counterparts say they are unlikely to reach the U.S.-set target date of year's end for a final peace deal.
Israeli political science professor Gadi Wolfsfeld predicted Livni could use such a deal to win a national election.
"If she comes to a tentative agreement with the Palestinians, why not run on that platform, which would be very good for her," he said.
Kilo Bravo and I purchased a pet bed for our cat. After she used it for a couple of weeks her fur was falling out in chuncks. We shitcanned the bed and now she is fine. Like everything else the bed was made in China.
A French retailer has withdrawn from sale Chinese-made sofas and armchairs after hundreds of buyers said they developed a painful rash from them, Agence France-Presse reported.
Isabelle Hoppenot, spokeswoman for the French retailer Conforama, said the company removed the items in July after a doctor warned they could be linked to an eczema outbreak in one of his patients. The retailer has sold the sofas and chairs since 2005.
Hoppenot said some of the furniture, made by Chinese company Link Wise, contained too much of an anti-mold substance that may cause an allergic reaction in some people.
French newspaper Le Parisien said a dozen people had been hospitalized in serious condition after buying the chairs, AFP reported.
Conforama has received complaints from 400 customers seeking damages. Eight hundred buyers have been given a refund or an exchange, Hoppenot said.
Ali Akbar Yahya, an Iranian national and naturalized British citizen; F.N. Yaghmaei, a/k/a ” Farrokh Nia Yaghmaei,” an Iranian national; Mayrow General Trading, Atlinx Electronics, Micatic General Trading, Madjico Micro Electronics, a/k/a “MME,” and Al-Faris, all Dubai-based businesses; Neda Industrial Group, an Iran-based business; Bahman Ghandi, a/k/a “Brian Ghandi,” an Iranian national; Farshid Gillardian, a/k/a “Isaac Gillardian,” a/k/a “Isaac Gill,” an Iranian national and a naturalized British citizen; Kaam Chee Mun, a/k/a “Brian Kaam,” a resident of Malaysia; Djamshid Nezhad, a/k/a “Reza,” a resident of Germany; Ahmad Rahzad, a/k/a “Saeb Karim,” an Iranian national; Majid Seif, a/k/a “Mark Ong,”a/k/a “Matti Chong,” an Iranian national residing in Malaysia; and Eco Biochem Sdn BHD and Vast Solution Sdn BHD, Malaysian businesses. The defendants are charged with purchasing and causing the export of U.S. goods to Iran through middle countries, including the United Arab Emirates, Malaysia, England, Germany, and Singapore.
sounds like Cubans to me...
Posted by: Frank G ||
09/17/2008 18:22
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#2
Hang 'em high. >:-(
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
09/17/2008 19:11
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Shut the d*mn company down and shoot the managers!
It's about time we start taking treason seriously.
Posted by: DanNY ||
09/17/2008 19:13
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They probably did a backtrack on recovered components of IED's. All those part numbers, serial numbers, even manufacturers names?
Interesting bit from Strategy Page about Pakistan's relation to what's going on in Afganistan.
Pakistan considers Afghanistan a potential problem that has to be neutralized. Westerners must keep in mind that "Afghanistan" (as a region) is where several waves of invaders have poured into South Asia and upset many apple carts. The tribal areas on the Pakistani side of the border are part of this historical "Afghanistan". Most of the 40 million Pushtun tribal peoples live on the Pakistani side of the border. Pakistani government officials are always coming up with new schemes to keep the tribes busy with each other, and not planning mischief against the lowlanders (the majority of Pakistan's population). The Taliban was one of these schemes, which got out of control. Same with Islamic radicalism in general. Thanks, Paks
The University of Rochester is a major private university. It's noted for its medical center and research, a well-funded laser lab, and research into controlled nuclear fusion. This is a huge opportunity for our veterans.
#2
Good catch, Chuck, I posted this on our NY Gathering of Eagles website.
Posted by: DanNY ||
09/17/2008 19:38
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well done U of R and Chuck for catching it!
Posted by: Frank G ||
09/17/2008 19:47
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Smart move. I suspect the increase in alumni donations will more than offset the lost tuition. Unlike other schools that flip off ROTC and PO alums.
#5
Heh. You also understand they're in the lead to capture the elusive adult male to repopulate their campus. There's nervousness in academia because of the disproportional number of women [after decades of rants of 'unfair' and 'discrimination']. Universities and colleges are starting to look bad [and for good reason]. What better source of 'recruiting' not only males, but males with discipline and focus.
MICHELLE Obama, wife of Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama, has made People magazine's list of the year's top ten best-dressed women.
"Politics may be tougher than ever, but Obama has wowed along the campaign trail with confidence, in polished looks that bring to mind a famous former first lady," wrote People in an apparent reference to Jacqueline Kennedy.
At 44, the tall, athletic former lawyer was the most senior woman on the magazine's annual list.
"Sticking mainly to favorite hometown designers like Maria Pinto, who crafted her sleek purple sheath, Obama has also tried new looks by Isabel Toledo and jeweller Tom Binns for campaign fund-raisers," the magazine wrote.
The list also includes Barbados-born singer Rihanna, pop star Fergie from the Black Eyed Peas and Oscar winners Gwyneth Paltrow and Charlize Theron, as well as the star of Sex and the City, Sarah Jessica Parker.
Earlier this month, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid made a personal appeal to Barack Obama: Help me grow the Democrats' Senate majority by sharing some of the $77 million you've got in the bank.
Obama's campaign said no.
Although Democratic insiders say a better deal could still come, the Obama campaign so far has agreed only to let Senate Democrats use Obama's name -- as well as those of his wife and running mate -- in mail and online fundraising pitches. The campaign has planned no joint fundraising events with House or Senate Democrats, and insiders say none is likely to be held before Election Day.
In rejecting a direct request from his Senate leader, Obama has put a fine point on the financial pressures he's feeling as the presidential race turns toward the fall. Whether Obama wins or loses, I think the next legislative session will be an interesting one for him. Payback's a bit*h.
Obama raised a record-setting $66 million in August, leaving his campaign with about $77 million in cash now. Because he has turned down public financing, he can keep raising money through Election Day. John McCain, having accepted public financing, can't do that -- but he already has the $84 million in public money in his campaign coffers.
More importantly, McCain will get substantial help from the Republican National Committee -- which has dramatically outraised its Democratic counterpart -- and the Republican Party's state and local committees.
Reid and Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee Chairman Charles Schumer had hoped at one point to get as much as $10 million from the Obama campaign. Awww.....once they had hope, now they aren't even gonna get the change on the dresser....
With 23 GOP seats up for grabs this year -- versus only a dozen Democratic seats -- Senate Democrats see a once-in-a-generation opportunity to pad their majority with as many as four to seven new seats.
But to do that, they'll need money, and lots of it. While the DSCC still has a huge financial advantage over its GOP counterpart, the National Republican Senatorial Committee, the geographic overlap between competitive Senate seats and the tight presidential race means the McCain campaign and the RNC will be dumping tens of millions of dollars into battleground states with competitive Senate races. This will likely help down-ballot GOP candidates and incumbents.
Matthew Miller, the DSCC communications director, did not respond directly when asked about the majority leader's discussion with Obama. "We work closely with the Obama campaign on fundraising and on field operations and political organizing," Miller said. "We have a great relationship with them."
Miller noted that Obama has done two e-mail and two direct-mail pitches to donors on behalf of the DSCC this cycle, while Biden did one earlier this month.
The Obama campaign did not have a comment at press time. Well, yeah, they were a bit busy spinning Obama's actions in Iraq...
One Democratic source familiar with the intraparty dispute over money said that fundraising e-mails and direct-mail pitches "are helpful, but we really don't care about that. We need more help than that."
Fights over money are nothing new for Democrats.
Schumer and then-Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee Chairman Rahm Emanuel engaged in a long battle with DNC Chairman Howard Dean last cycle for funding for get-out-the-vote operations. After initially refusing to help, Dean eventually approved $5 million for House and Senate Democrats, although Emanuel and other Democratic strategists later said that more money would have made the 2006 Democratic victory even bigger.
Democrats on Capitol Hill have grumbled for months that it has been hard to orchestrate campaign events and appearances with the Obama campaign. One Democratic strategist said the campaign frequently turns down requests to have Obama appear with a Democratic incumbent or challenger, and that the events that do happen come only after some "very heavy lifting." You've got The One headlining your ticket....what more do you want? Ingrate!
In Obama's defense, Democrats note that the nominee's long primary fight with Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York cut in to the time Obama otherwise would have had to enjoy his European "victory lap" mount a general election campaign. And, they say, he's so popular among Democrats that his campaign has been overwhelmed with more requests for appearances than it can possibly grant.
But having opted out of public financing, Obama also has had to spend significant time fundraising that, in the past, the Democratic candidate has used purely for politicking.
Posted by: Cornsilk Blondie, formerly known as Swamp Blondie ||
09/17/2008
14:43 ||
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#1
More than likely Sen. Obama doesn't want his name tained with the single digit popularity that the Democratic Congress is experienceing right now.
#3
An strange idea I saw elsewhere could best be called an "aircraft parking lot". Inexpensive, low tech, ships with strong stabilizers, whose upper deck is a flat landing strip.
Perhaps three to five such ships would move to an area of calm sea, between where the carrier or carriers are conducting combat operations, and the nearest land airport. There they hook up in line to form a landing strip perhaps double the size of a carrier.
This accomplishes a whole bunch of things.
To start with, if a carrier is hit by anti-ship missiles, such a platform would likely be within range of the carrier's aircraft, so would save the air wing in a forward deployed location.
Second, if a carrier air wing was getting heavy losses and anticipated needing additional aircraft, a wing could be in "the batter's box", on the platform. It and the carrier's own wing would be able to use either carrier or platform as needed.
For some aircraft, landing on a platform could be a one-way flight, so that section could detach and steam home. Otherwise it could be brought back to the carrier and craned aboard.
Such ships could also provide quicker rearmament and resupply, receiving materiel from shore, carried by aircraft that could not land on a carrier.
Importantly, they would not be combat vessels, but combat support vessels.
#5
It is a truism that the military (being by nature a conservative organization) is always fighting the last war.
Having said that, it may be that carriers are not obsolete yet. I still see a lot of uses for them, but not necessarily as the core of the naval force that they have been since WWII.
#6
.5MT: check recent articles ( various websites) about shortcomings for the DDG1000 class destroyers.
inability to handle surface-to-air mission is an interesting development.
aircraft parking lot is interesting idea but i would like to know where we are going to get the reserve aircraft to park there; the Tomcats are scrap, the Intruders are gutted ( of common parts to support the Prowlers), and anything else that was 'flyable' has no logistics trail left (F-4, A-7E, A-4, F-8) and nobody left that remembers how to work on them.
#8
The economy is not tanking. The financial markets are tanking. Wall Street has both overdone greed and stepped into a new era in which, like the recordeing industry and the MSM, many of its constituents are obsolete and superfluous. AIG was picked up by the Fed to prevent the economy from tanking. As yet the economy is not even in a recession. And if it does enter one, there is no reason to believe it will be out of line with the last two as long as the finance industry is stabilized.
#9
Modern missiles need a fire control solution. The fundamental problem in attacking a CVN is getting that, and living long enough to use it.
On paper, Carriers were obsolete 40 years ago. But carriers operate on WATER.
Posted by: Minister of funny walks ||
09/17/2008 16:08
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#10
I agree carriers are not dead, they will just be used differently. I'm not sure we need supercarriers though. You could probably build and run more than one of the smaller kind for the same price. Especially if the new tasks are disaster assistance (tsunami for example) and unmanned aircraft launch and recovery.
#11
check recent articles ( various websites) about shortcomings for the DDG1000 class destroyers.inability to handle surface-to-air mission is an interesting development.
The Zumwalt is a much-politicised, flawed successor to the fire-support ship. As such, the much politicised DD-1000 was never intended to have surface to air capabilities outside of being an 'extended magazine' for Aegis equipped platforms (something that the Spruance class was being refiited for 16+ years ago).
#12
Comments from a non-navy type.
1. Aircraft need more than a place to take off and land. That's why CVN's are so complex.
2. Pappy's right.
3. We have no alternative to carriers when we don't have landing rights nearby the area of operations.
4. Show of force works. Especially if they believe you will use it.
5. Stuff wears out and should be replaced if needed.
#13
Anonymoose, even in the calmest of waters wouldn't you have a ripple effect between the platforms creating a pretty dangerous landing area? Sounds crazy to me but maybe I'm missing something.
#14
Meh, funding for the 3rd ZoomWalt is in the works to cover the cost overruns on 1st 2 hulls. Maybe it goes, maybe it don't. Ima read somewhere that the Zumz were old-fashioned technology demonstrators but couldn't be sold to Congress in that form. I dunno. Not certain if 500 million $ minesweepers (altho they are said to have the ability to run many tiny little uwvz) is the answer either. We'll see, hope I am wrong.
#15
I doubt McCain will build the Zooms. One maybe. But he knows the Navy is FUBAR and a good target for cutting. His problem is to find a Petraeus. Maybe Roughead is the guy. At least he blew the whistle on the Zoom.
#16
rjschwarz: that's why I mentioned extra strong stabilizers. When the ships connect, they need close to fly by wire stabilization, all stabilizers acting as a team.
The task is simplified somewhat by not needing to stabilize them as a group during forward momentum, since as a group, propulsion is just to assist stabilization. They break apart to move any great distance.
Other advantages is that such a platform can provide refueling for aircraft unable to get in-flight refueling. They can also provide the transfer of people and cargo between different aircraft.
Having a long than an aircraft carrier landing strip would permit non-CVN capable, and even non-Navy aircraft into the theater.
#17
The USA desires to begin and lead the exploration of deep space - the future CV will be a GLORIFIED HYBRID ARSENAL SHIP = FIRE SHIP [wid UV, GMD-BM, Marine Amphib/ABN + SPAWAR etc. "MOTHER SHIP" "SEA FORT" INTEGRATED MULTI-BATTLESPACE Capabilities].
MAG-LEV = SPAWAR DIRIGIBLES???
AFAIK the USN is NOT even certain how many of the new CVN-21's to build, includ AEGIS 21 Tech Escorts, nor wid what 21st Century Missions + Capabilities.
DERA ISMAIL KHAN, Pakistan — A U.S. missile strike killed at least six people Wednesday, hours after the top U.S. military officer told Pakistani officials that America respects Pakistan's sovereignty amid an uproar over American military operations in Pakistan's northwest.
Two Pakistani intelligence officials told The Associated Press that several missiles hit a compound in the South Waziristan tribal region early Wednesday evening. Both officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they are not authorized to speak openly to the media.
The officials said the target was a base for Taliban militants and Hezb-i-Islami, another group fighting U.S. and government troops in neighboring Afghanistan.
They said informants in the area had reported that six people were dead and three more injured. Their identities were not immediately clear, but sources told FOX News that no high-profile targets were killed.
The officials said an unmanned drone of the type used by the CIA and U.S. forces in Afghanistan was heard in the area shortly before the attack.
Maj. Murad Khan, a spokesman for the Pakistan army, said it was looking into the incident.
Earlier Wednesday, the American Embassy said that Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, vowed to respect Pakistan's sovereignty — a commitment apparently aimed at easing controversy over a rash of U.S. attacks on militant havens near the border with Afghanistan.
Mullen met separately with army chief Gen. Ashfaq Parvez Kayani and Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani for what a U.S. Embassy statement called "extremely frank, positive and constructive" discussions.
"The Pakistani leaders reviewed the progress of Pakistan's efforts to combat militancy, violence and terrorism," the embassy statement said. "Adm. Mullen appreciated the positive role that Pakistan is playing in the war on terror and pledged continued U.S. support to Pakistan.
"In this context, Adm. Mullen reiterated the U.S. commitment to respect Pakistan's sovereignty and to develop further U.S.-Pakistani cooperation and coordination on these critical issues that challenge the security and well-being of the people of both countries," it said.
Mullen arrived the same day that Pakistan's army said its forces have orders to open fire if U.S. troops launch another raid across the Afghan border, raising the stakes in a dispute over how to tackle militant havens in Pakistan's unruly border zone.
Pakistan's government has faced rising popular anger over a Sept. 3 attack by U.S. commandos into South Waziristan, a base for Taliban militants who have been killing increasing numbers of U.S. troops in Afghanistan. Pakistan says about 15 people were killed in the raid, all civilians.
The new firing orders were disclosed by Pakistani army spokesman Maj. Gen. Athar Abbas in an interview Tuesday with The Associated Press.
Abbas said Pakistani field commanders have previously been tolerant about international forces crossing a short way into Pakistan because of the ill-defined and contested nature of the mountainous frontier.
"But after the (Sept. 3) incident, the orders are clear," Abbas said. "In case it happens again in this form, that there is a very significant detection, which is very definite, no ambiguity, across the border, on ground or in the air: open fire."
The statement was the strongest since Kayani raised eyebrows last week by vowing to defend Pakistani territory "at all cost." Abbas would not say whether the orders were discussed in advance with U.S. officials.
U.S. military commanders complain Islamabad has been doing too little to prevent the Taliban and other militant groups from recruiting, training and resupplying in Pakistan's lawless tribal belt.
Pakistan acknowledges the presence of Al Qaeda fugitives and its difficulties in preventing militants from seeping into Afghanistan. However, it insists it is doing what it can and paying a heavy price, pointing to its deployment of more then 100,000 troops in the increasingly restive northwest and a wave of homicide bombings across the country.
#1
A U.S. missile strike killed at least six people Wednesday, hours after the top U.S. military officer told Pakistani officials that America respects Pakistan's sovereignty amid an uproar over American military operations in Pakistan's northwest.
Taquiyya. Not so good when YOU are on the receiving end, is it?
#6
The problem is that the Koran doesn't say anything about red and green wires, Bright Pebbles. They can't be expected to understand beyond that Allah wishes things to explode unexpectedly.
The American election campaign has made life better for those of us living here and identified as non-enemies of President Bush or, even worse, one of the "neo-cons" David Cameron went all the way to Islamabad to denounce.
It is not that our British friends have fallen in love with George Bush, or adopted a more tolerant attitude towards those of us who think the world might be a more dangerous place if America were to retreat into reliance on the United Nations to prevent Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons.
No, it is that Brits with any interest in America, which means most of you, are so distracted by the campaign that they don't have time to share with us their latest reason for Bush bashing, or to tell us at dinner parties that 9/11 wouldn't have happened if the Jews hadn't been so ghastly to the Arabs, or to accuse us of over-heating the globe.
Now, there is only time for, "Tell us about the elections? Is it really possible that Obama won't win?" That's the easiest question. Yes, it is possible that Barack Obama's rhetoric will not succeed in fooling enough of the people enough of the time to gain him the keys to the White House.
He claims to be a bipartisan healer, but has never voted against his Democratic leadership in the Senate. He claims to love America, but spent 20 years as a disciple of a pastor who urged his congregation to "God damn America", rather than call on God to bless it.
He is a man whose list of ways young people might serve their country definitely does not include enlistment in the military.
No matter. In Britain, as in the rest of Europe, Barack Obama is seen as the second coming, at least of John F Kennedy, if not of that other fellow.
Tall, articulate, handsome, with a stylish wife and engaging children (paraded on stage at the Democratic convention before 80,000 fans and tens of millions of television viewers, but, says the candidate, "off limits" to reporters). Better still, he is black but, as Charles Moore reminded us last week, borrowing from Colin Powell, "not that black".
There is, we have found, no use laying out such facts before Brits who want to see Obama in the White House.
It is, however, productive to discuss Sarah Palin, John McCain's choice for vice-president. The first question goes something like this: "My God, does she really believe in God, just like those jihadists we are supposed to be fighting?"
Well, yes and no: yes, she is deeply religious, but no, she is not about to engage in a holy war against Islam, or even against Europe's secularists. Nor is she about to denude the nation's libraries of books with which she disagrees, or bar the teaching of Darwinism in schools, even though she thinks there should be a place to advise students that there is another point of view as to the origin of man.
Should she want to do just that, our founding fathers had the sense to reserve power over education to local communities and the states.
Next question: "She shoots moose and wolves, poses with the sort of weapons favoured by Vladimir Putin and drug lords, and seems to have no objections to the proliferation of arsenals in the homes of Americans. Doesn't that worry you?"
Not very much. The second amendment to our constitution guarantees Americans the right to bear arms, a right affirmed only recently by the Supreme Court in a decision Obama says he supports.
Also, we have long known, as Britain is now learning, that laws do not keep guns out of the hands of the bad guys; they only disarm law-abiding citizens and reduce their ability to defend themselves. Surveys in prisons show that burglars fear two things: trained guard dogs and armed potential victims.
Many Americans find it encouraging that the McCain-Palin ticket includes a man willing to defend his country and a woman willing to defend her home.
Then there is abortion: "Won't she deny women the right to choose?" Well, no. Sarah Palin is opposed to abortion - witness her "hillbilly fecundity", as Mark Steyn describes liberals' reaction to her five children, her willingness to bear a Down's syndrome baby, and support for her unwed daughter's decision to carry her baby to term. But Governor Palin has shown no inclination to impose her view on others.
In the end, the Supreme Court will remain the arbiter of the battle between "pro-life" and "pro-choice" Americans. Which perhaps is unfortunate: were the electorates in several states given an opportunity to pronounce on the issue, the minority might be more willing to accept the verdict than it is when eight men and one woman in black robes opine.
What many foreigners might be missing is that Palin's supporters don't much care what she thinks about babies, guns and Jesus. They seem to care only that she is what one British friend described as "a real person".
Fortunately for the American electorate, there is nothing much that the British commentariat can do to prevent its worst nightmare from becoming a reality: Sarah Palin sworn in as President of the United States, dining with the Queen at a state banquet.
So sit back and enjoy the show. It is far more entertaining, and certainly more democratic, than waiting for the defenestration of a prime minister by a cabal of his colleagues.
#1
I guess I never really realized how neutered British males were until recently. Kind of makes me rethink my philosophy on Yobs. They are wolves, in a country of sheep, and if god did not want them sheared, he would not have made them sheep.
Posted by: Bob Glemble5143 ||
09/17/2008 23:49
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Vienna, Ohio (north of Youngstown), yesterday afternoon:
Now I believe AmericaÂ’s best days are ahead of us. Governor Palin and I are going to reform Wall Street. WeÂ’re going to reform Washington. IÂ’m going to fight for you and IÂ’m going to lead our nation forward in the greatest periods of prosperity in its history. And letÂ’s have some straight talk. Senator Obama is not interested in the politics of hope, heÂ’s interested in his political future and thatÂ’s why heÂ’s hurling in insults and making up facts about his record. Today, he claimed that the Congressional stimulus package was his idea. ThatÂ’s news to those of us in Congress who supported it. Senator Obama didnÂ’t even show up to vote. He talks a tough game on the financial crisis, but the facts tell a different story. Senator Obama took more money from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac than anyone but the chairman of the committee they answer to. And he put Fannie MaeÂ’s CEO, who helped create this problem in charge of finding his Vice President. ThatÂ’s not change, thatÂ’s whatÂ’s broken in Washington. He talked about siding with the people, siding with the people, just before he flew off to Hollywood for a fundraiser with Barbra Streisand and his celebrity friends. Let me tell you, my friends, there is no place IÂ’d rather be, than here, with the working men and women of Ohio. IÂ’m going to fight for you and together weÂ’re going to win in November.
McCain also recorded this response to Babs some time ago.
Posted by: Mike ||
09/17/2008
12:58 ||
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On PMSNBC's Morning Joe, in reference to Tina Fey's Palin skit on SNL:
"I thought it was extraordinary how well she played her and much she looked like her, I'd like her, personally I felt we didn't need the Hillary stuff, I'd like her to go even harder. I want her to decimate this woman. This woman, I can't believe there hasn't been more about it... It's just unbelievable to me this woman is actually running for vice president."
Posted by: Chris W. ||
09/17/2008
12:05 ||
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On the heels of blasting John McCain's selection of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin as his running mate, Lindsay Lohan reportedly got a bit of a jolt from an unexpected quarter: the Obama-Biden campaign. Apparently, LiLo was interested in becoming very involved in the Democratic ticket's bid for the White House -- even offering to host a series of events appealing to younger voters.
However, a top source in the Barack Obama team tells me the actress ''is not exactly the kind of high-profile star who would be a positive for us.''Given Lohan's past problems, plus ongoing brushes with controversy, I've learned the campaign quietly told the actress ''thanks, but no thanks,'' but in far more diplomatic terms.
Posted by: Chris W. ||
09/17/2008
11:54 ||
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Barack Obama partied with Hollywood celebrities Tuesday night and with the help of Oscar-winning singer and actress Barbra Streisand raised an eye-popping $9 million for his presidential campaign and the Democratic Party. The night was split into two glitzy events, a reception and dinner costing $28,500 each at the Greystone Mansion, ... not to be confused with his voter registration drive at the Graybar Hotel,
... followed by entertainment by Streisand at the nearby Regent Beverly Wilshire Hotel. About 250-300 people were expected at the dinner and about 800 at the entertainment, which cost $2,500 a ticket.
Dinner guests seen by reporters, or noted by waiters, included Will Ferrell, Jodie Foster, Leonardo DiCaprio, Jamie Lee Curtis and DreamWorks founders Steven Spielberg, David Geffen and Jeffrey Katzenberg.
Obama spent more than an hour before dinner getting his picture taken with guests. He said later that people had encouraged him to be tougher and had questioned why he was so calm in a close race against Republican John McCain.
"I'm skinny but I'm tough," he said. "I'm from Chicago and we don't play fair. Just keep steady. If we can cut through the nonsense and the lipstick and the pigs ... keep reminding everyone, Genius,
... and the silliness, then I'm absolutely convinced that we are going to win," Obama said, referring to some of the offbeat charges raised against him.
"The reason I'm calm ... is I've got confidence in the American people," he said. "I really think they want to see us do better." Standing in the courtyard of the palatial estate, he said his campaign was dedicated to people who need jobs and health care and worry about their pensions and sending children to college. "It's about those who will never see the inside of a building like this," Obama said.
He said the economic turmoil in recent days had been sobering for America. "It's reminded people that this is not a game. This is not a reality show, no offense to any of you," Obama said to laughter. "This is not a sitcom."
It was a day of contrasts for Obama. Earlier in the day, the Democratic presidential candidate spoke about the public's deepening economic anxieties and portrayed Republican challenger John McCain as out of touch with the needs of hardworking people.
Then he flew to California for a night of hobnobbing with Hollywood notables.
McCain groused about Obama mixing it up with celebrities. He told a rally in Vienna, Ohio on Tuesday that Obama "talks about siding with the people, siding with the people just before he flies off to Hollywood for a fundraiser with Barbra Streisand and his celebrity friends. Let me tell you my friends, there's no place I'd rather be than here with the working men and women of Ohio."
A night earlier, McCain was with deep-pocketed donors in Florida and raised $5 million, a fact noted by Obama's campaign. "I don't know who showed up down in Florida where he raised $5 million but my guess is that it wasn't a lot of nurses, firefighters and police officers," Obama's senior strategist, David Axelrod, told reporters. "Yeah! At least at our event, we had people who played them on TV!!"
"The whole corporate lobbying community is rallying to his side. We're going to have to struggle to keep pace. You can't challenge that group and not expect them to have a lot of money."
While the final total was not determined, Obama's campaign did not dispute estimates that the twin events would bring in $9 million for Obama and the Democratic Party. That would be his second-biggest fundraising day. Obama received $10 million from online donors the day after McCain's running mate, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, delivered her speech at the Republican convention.
On another big fundraising night in California, Obama raised $7 million in August in San Francisco.
Obama is financing his presidential race with private contributions after abandoning a pledge to take public financing capped at $84 million. His campaign announced Sunday it had collected $66 million in August, a fundraising record for any presidential candidate in a monthlong period. By comparison, McCain raised $47 million in August, a personal best for his campaign as well. After claiming the GOP nomination, McCain accepted the $84 million in taxpayer funds allotted by the public financing system for the race.
Posted by: Cornsilk Blondie, formerly known as Swamp Blondie ||
09/17/2008
09:47 ||
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#1
Glad to see that he isn't acting like a celebrity or an elitist snob.
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
09/17/2008 12:55
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#3
Obama is financing his presidential race with private contributions after abandoning breaking a pledge to take public financing capped at $84 million.
There see.. its not too tough to tell the entire truth...
Posted by: Mike ||
09/17/2008 13:07
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#5
I hate to be grateful for McCain-Feingold, but it is really going to put a crimp in The One's style wile he has to go begging to the elite, hat in hand, during prime campaign season while Big Mac coasts on Federal $$$. At least the Messiah will start to have a little better feeling for what AIG went through. But I doubt he'll get a bail out.
An $85 billion dollar U.S. lifeline for American International Group gave some respite to battered financial stocks, while the UK's biggest mortgage lender HBOS Plc and Lloyds TSB contemplated a merger which would reshape British banking.
Shares in Britain's HBOS Plc were initially sharply lower for a sixth consecutive day on Wednesday, but recovered after a source familiar with the matter confirmed a report that it was in merger talks with Lloyds TSB.
Around the time the AIG deal with U.S. authorities was announced, British bank Barclays Plc gave markets another boost: agreeing to buy parts of Lehman for $1.75 billion.
Posted by: ed ||
09/17/2008
08:33 ||
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#1
If you think the US housing market was over priced and over leveraged then you should have been in London from 1997 to 2003 when I lived there. Remember everything there is dollar to pound. What you pay $25K for in the USA you paid GBP25 for the same thing in London (back then a 60% premium). Housing was ridiculous. Our little "cottage" in central London was GBP 450K in 1997 and over GBP1 million when we left in 2003. All these flats, terrace houses, maisonettes and cottages that have risen in price 200-300% or more in the last 4 years are going to come tumbling down along with their highly leveraged mortgages and will make yesterday look like a Sunday school picnic. That could be the other shoe to drop.
Posted by: Jack is Back! ||
09/17/2008 12:14
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#2
The markets fell 450 points today.
If that is "CALM"... I don't want to see rough.
. . . To prove his newfound determination, bare-knuckle Obama unveiled a new TV ad, to air in key states.
It begins with the date “1982,” a picture of a disco ball and footage of McCain in clunky glasses from his first year in Washington. “Things have changed in the last 26 years, but McCain hasn’t,” says the announcer. “He admits he still doesn’t know how to use a computer, can’t send an e-mail, still doesn’t understand the economy and favors $200 billion in new tax cuts for corporations, but almost nothing for the middle class.” All the while it shows ancient computers and a cordless phone that looks like a walkie-talkie from “Ice Station Zebra.”
The tax-cuts and economy barbs are familiar boilerplate. What’s new is the charge of computer illiteracy and the blatant attempt to attack McCain as too old for the job — and that speaks volumes.
First, the ad is dishonest. McCain has been one of the SenateÂ’s leading authorities on telecom and the Internet. . . .
One reason McCain is not versed in the mechanical details of sending e-mail and typing on a keyboard is that the North Vietnamese broke his fingers and shattered both of his arms. As Forbes, Slate, and the Boston Globe reported in 2000, McCainÂ’s injuries make using a keyboard painfully laborious. He mostly relies on his wife and staff to show him e-mails and Web sites, though he says heÂ’s getting up to speed.
“It’s extraordinary,” Obama spokesman Dan Pfeiffer said, “that someone who wants to be our president and our commander in chief doesn’t know how to send an e-mail.” For the record, President Clinton sent exactly two e-mails while in office.
Besides, by this logic, Obama is even less qualified to be commander-in-chief because, unlike McCain, Obama has never fired a gun, flown a plane, or led men during wartime.
And if the Obama campaign didnÂ’t intend to mock a disabled veteran, (the jury's still out on that one)
what does it say about his supposedly “cybersavvy” staffers that they don’t know how to conduct a five-minute Google search?
But the most revealing aspect of the ad is its target audience: Obama has a 20- to 30-point advantage over McCain among 18- to 29-year-olds. Indeed, his base (not counting black voters) is upscale college kids and new-economy young voters. They may think being able to send an e-mail is, like, totally crucial.
The only other constituency — other than the press — that will be jazzed by such an attack are the Web-symbiotes of the left-wing netroots, another demographic Obama has locked up.
But older Americans, working-class Americans, veterans, and other voters Obama desperately needs probably wonÂ’t care and might even take offense at ObamaÂ’s condescension and insensitivity.
There are two explanations for the ad. One is that Obama released it to reassure his base that heÂ’s serious about attacking McCain, not to win over swing voters. That, or the campaign actually thinks itÂ’s an effective ad.
Either way, the lesson is the same: Obama doesnÂ’t know how to get outside his echo chamber. He talks about being bipartisan to hard-core liberals who like the words, but he rejects actual deviation from the liberal line. He talks about new ideas while repackaging old ones.
He is a candidate who has never had to sell himself to voters who werenÂ’t already sold. And it shows.
Posted by: Mike ||
09/17/2008
08:21 ||
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#1
I'm in a Marketing Management class right now for my MBA. Generation Y is known among marketers for their insatiable appetite for brand names, logos, and above all marketing BUZZ! It is common strategy to over-hype a product if you want to sell it to Gen-Y audiences. Enter Obama....He's a natural for the Gen-Y vote (18-29 year olds).
#2
Does the McCain camp have someone on Obama's team feeding them ad ideas that will backfire on them? Sabatoge is the only explaination I have for Obama to set himself up to get shot down like this. It allows McCain to once again bring up his POW experience and to display his experience in the Senate on internet and telecom issues. Then what? We are reminded that Obama looks like a stupid, spoiled little kid by comparison. Way to go, McCain-plant-in-Obama-staf. Way to go. I wish I could see this ad, but it's not likely to play in Oregon. We're not in play.
Posted by: Richard of Oregon ||
09/17/2008 11:10
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#3
I'm guessing Obama's people are all young and don't realize that not only are they insulting McCain but all of the elderly that find tech a bit off-putting.
#4
Generation Y is known among marketers for their insatiable appetite for brand names, logos, and above all marketing BUZZ!
It's just because they are young and stupid. Consider that Obama's lefty boomer base is made up of the perpetual adolescents who bought into the "packaged rage" sold to them by the evil corporations. Forty years later they are still too dense to see that the brand they are buying is nothing but pleasant sounding hype; promising all and delivering nothing.
#5
18-25 are millenials. I know 2. They aren't Gen Y. My 25 y.o., NYC living, ardently pro-abortion daughter is so turned off that she's starting to lean McCain with no encouragement from her parents who know better than to question her wisdom. Barry's got problems. The 22 y.o. in Chicago is just going to vote for McCain because after 4 years she knows enough.
Brought to you by Dinosaur Media Deathwatch ®
The McClatchy Co. announced another round of job cuts Tuesday and said it was slicing its shareholder dividend in half. Sacramento-based McClatchy, parent company of The Fresno Bee and 29 other daily newspapers, said it was cutting its work force by another 10%, or 1,150 full-time positions, as part of an effort to cut expenses by $100 million a year.
The Fresno Bee will lose 40 workers in the McClatchy expense-cutting effort, publisher Ray Steele Jr. announced in a letter to employees Tuesday. Of those, 35 -- including 11 in the newsroom -- accepted buyouts. Five -- including one in the newsroom -- were laid off. The 9% staff cut, following the layoff of 44 workers in June, leaves The Fresno Bee with about 520 employees for the moment. The Fresno Bee also plans to cut about 10 more jobs next year by outsourcing some financial operations, Steele told employees.
McClatchy's announcement followed an earlier spell of layoffs in June that reduced staffing at all of its newspapers by an average of 10%.
The announcement reflects the company's inability to halt a steep slide in profits and revenue. The company said Tuesday that its August revenue fell 15.7% from a year earlier, to $142.8 million. Advertising sales were down 17.8%. Die, monster, die!
McClatchy officials said the August figures marked something of an improvement over July, when revenue fell 16.4%. "August advertising activity turned out to be stronger than recent months," Chief Financial Officer Pat Talamantes said in a press release. He added that online advertising was "a bright spot," with a 7.4% gain in sales.
With print revenue still dropping, the company said it had to keep cutting costs. Coupled with the June layoffs, a companywide wage freeze and other moves, McClatchy expects to save about $200 million a year in operating expenses, Treasurer Elaine Lintecum said. Cutting the dividend in half, to 9 cents a share, will save the company an additional $7.4 million or so each quarter. That translates into annual savings of $29.6 million.
The move wasn't a surprise; Gary Pruitt, chairman and chief executive, signaled in July that the company was going to re-evaluate its dividend policies. Still, McClatchy had never reduced its dividend in its 20 years as a public company.
Shareholders seemed to accept the news. John Miller of Ariel Investments, a Chicago money-management firm that owns 27% of McClatchy's "public" shares, said it makes sense to plow more money into dealing with the $2 billion in debt left from the 2006 takeover of Knight Ridder Inc.
McClatchy, like other newspaper publishers, has been struggling with a weak economy and the exodus of business to the Internet and other media. McClatchy's troubles are probably worse than most because of its heavy concentration of newspapers in hard-hit California and Florida, where revenues have fallen more than 20% this year.
McClatchy's profits have dropped in half this year and total revenue is down 15%. The company's stock price has dropped 85% in the past 12 months and closed Tuesday at $3.40, up 2 cents, on the New York Stock Exchange. For all the good dirt on the nakedly pro-insurgent McClatchy gang and their disgraceful coverage of Iraq, including the detestable pissant Bobby Calvan, see McClatchy Watch or search Rantburg for "McClatchy," including this gratifying screed by yours truly.
#4
the San Diego UT is also cutting back bigtime preparing to be sold by cutting salaries and positions.
Posted by: Frank G ||
09/17/2008 10:56
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#5
They bought out Knight-Ridder with a lot of debt financed with junk bonds. Now they have to pay the nut on those bonds in this tough financial environment. Wonder how long before they ask for a federal bailout?
Posted by: Steve White ||
09/17/2008 11:21
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#6
How many writers do you really need just to re-do PR releases, anyway?
Eleven. One for changing the bulb. Nine others to rotate him and finally another one in front of the keyboard waiting until there is light in the room.
#7
Daytona News-Journal (believe it or not, a radical left-wing indy) is laying off 150 but not in the editorial or reporting side. No, they are going for the real fat - circulation, advertising, mechanics, drivers, etc. Circulation is way down as is advertising. Yet, they continue to bang the Obama pans and keep running the most anti-free market, anti-war, anti-anything republican or conservative editorials while the readers say no thanks and quit. Real fiddling while Rome burns mentality.
Posted by: Jack is Back! ||
09/17/2008 12:18
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#8
They also ruined the Idaho Statesman in Boise. It used to be a great paper with fantastic reporting. Knight Ridder bought it and sold to McClatchy. Now it so bad that it is not even worth checking their website. Locally, they will have maybe one or two stories that are yesterday's news. As for everything else, it reminds me of an internet spider - a bunch of generic nothing that is designed to attract everyone but appeals to no one.
I bought it for awhile and I would really like to buy it again for the local advertisement or events. But it's just so void of content other than DNC talking points. I can't imagine they will survive.
They blame it on the internet, but I miss having the paper to look through. It's just that they aren't selling anything worth buying.
All of these papers Union Tribune, Fresno Bee and Idaho Statemen used to be independent and good. What a shame they destroyed them.
#9
The Union Tribune was never good, Betty. It's up for sale now. Wanna buy it? I bet you could run it better than David Copley, the publisher. They were never anything but cheerleaders for the local good old boys. Republicans, yes, but crooked as all get out and they have run San Diego right into the ground. You wanna talk about the mortgage crisis? San Diego is ground zero. Developers using illegal aliens for labor slapping up massive housing tracts where the houses sold for a half million to a million a pop. I could never figure out who could afford those places. Well, it turns out nobody could. When the ARMs adjusted up to a realistic interest rate the buyers walked away. So a lot of them are standing empty right now. Meanwhile they ask us to conserve water because they never had enough water for all the people who were moving here. But the UT was cheering them on the whole time while fat, lazy Copely was out playing on his yacht.
#10
"The Fresno Bee also plans to cut about 10 more jobs next year by outsourcing some financial operations,..."
if less money comes in, then i would expect the outsourced financial service to also be downsized.
Kutubuddin Ansari, whose photograph was seen around the world following the Godhra riots, has expressed his anger that it was used to justify the weekend blasts in Delhi. A photograph of helpless and ravaged Ansari, pleading with folded hands and tearful expression, was a shocking representation of the genocide and abuse the minority experienced in the riots. But the recent blasts bring back bitter memories of the Gujarat riot. The terror mail shot off just before the weekend blasts in Delhi by Indian Mujahideen and titled "An Eye for an Eye" carried the photograph of Ansari to support its message of revenge.
Ansari has expressed his anger at his photograph being used to send across a message of revenge which he opposes strongly. Ansari told TOI that he has been insisting on peace and wants to promote communal harmony. Ansari said that he doesnÂ’t know how to stop terrorists from using his photograph. He also wondered why his photograph was used by politicians to appeal the Muslim community in the Bihar assembly.
Ansari became famous because of the photograph, as the West Bengal government subsequently helped him by buying him four sewing machines to earn his livelihood.
#1
Petraeus did something astonishing here. It wasn't simply managing the "surge" of U.S. troops, whose precise effects military historians will be debating for years. It was that he restored confidence and purpose for a military that had begun to think, deep down, that this war was unwinnable and unsustainable.
When Ridgeway took over the command of 8th Army in Korea after the debacle created by the Chinese intervention, he found a staff planning to evacuate the peninsula. Our contemporary satellite photos showing the lights across the peninsula demonstrate the same sort of leadership we've witnessed. We have the leaders, we just need to get the bureaucratic managerial lifers out of the way. That's the trick. The puzzle palace can manage peacetime but it can not deliver leaders in wartime, particularly a wartime that last longer than the usual administrative imperative found in 'business as usual' environment.
#2
I disagree with Ignatius regarding his comment that "Petraeus/Bush didn't win in Iraq" but created and honorable exit. BS. We are winning and will win. This is unlike any war - not a Forever War of Dexter Filkins (did you see the picture of him all outfitted in flak jacket and knee pads?) but a "long war" and one the Islamists have no chance of winning even with the bomb (I think we have a few more than they have and I don't think the Muslim world is happy that Iran may want to have one). It will take a toll on our youth and our military leadership but from Iraq and Afghanistan we now have the most experienced and combat tested armed force in the world. Even China and Russia are creating little firestorms on their borders in order to get some experience into their forces but they are a long way from our performance. No, with Petraeus now in the catbird seat and hopefully before W leaves in a more senior position even, we can now start structuring the forces into the right combination of strategic and tactical to complement the new world reality.
Posted by: Jack is Back! ||
09/17/2008 12:07
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#3
Took a few tries before we had the right guy to dig the Panama canal. You need the right man for the right job, and the bigger the job the harder it is to find the right guy. Well done Petraeus.
AN explosion has struck near the US embassy in the Yemeni capital Sanaa, two witnesses said. There was no immediate word on any casualties.
A blazing vehicle was visible on the road past the embassy compound's heavily fortified perimeter and police swiftly cordoned off the area, the witnesses said.
#1
10 dead in car bombing at US Embassy in Yemen A car bomb exploded at the front gate of the U.S. Embassy in Yemen's capital Wednesday, killing six Yemeni guards and four civilians, officials said. No American personnel were reported hurt.
Several "secondary explosions" followed the first blast, the embassy said in a statement. A Yemeni security official said the compound was hit by two car bombs, followed by heavy gunfire that lasted about 10 minutes.
...
The Yemeni guards killed Wednesday were assigned to sentry duty outside the embassy by the Interior Ministry. The civilians who died in the explosion were waiting to enter the compound, the embassy said.
They included three Yemenis and one Indian national, said the Yemeni security official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media. ... A medical official, meanwhile, said at least seven Yemeni nationals were wounded and taken to the city's Republican hospital. They are residents of a nearby housing compound and included children, he said.
...
They also reported that gunmen in police uniforms arrived at the scene soon after the first blast and immediately fired at the embassy guards. This could not be independently confirmed.
Posted by: ed ||
09/17/2008 8:30
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#2
First the Cole, now this; why haven't we started putting a boot on these assholes' throat and showing some balls?
Footage of Australian journalist Nigel Brennan and a Canadian companion kidnapped in Somalia has been aired on Al Jazeera television. The broadcaster said the pair had urged their governments to do all they could to secure their release, Reuters reports.
Mr Brennan, 35, Canadian journalist Amanda Lindhout, 27, and their translator and guide, Somali reporter Abdifatah Mohammed Elmi, were kidnapped at gunpoint on August 23 just outside the Somali capital Mogadishu. They are believed to have been abducted after interviewing and taking photographs in a refugee camp.
Australian Federal Police and extra diplomatic staff have been sent to Somalia to investigate the kidnappings.
The footage, aired on Tuesday, showed Mr Brennan and Ms Lindhout along with armed men. Ms Lindhout could be seen speaking to the camera but the audio of the track was not aired, Reuters reports.
Their kidnappers, calling themselves the Mujahideen of Somalia, accused Australia and Canada of helping to destroy Somalia and demanded an end to such policies, Al Jazeera said.
A traditional chief in contact with the kidnappers said earlier this month that the kidnappers were demanding a $US2.5 million ($A3.08 million) ransom. "The kidnappers demanded 2.5 million dollars and we are trying to secure their release," said Dahir Farah, who has been participating in negotiations to free the hostages.
Another person claiming to be an intermediary for the kidnappers who contacted AFP spoke of the same ransom demand. He also allowed two people claiming to be the foreign journalists to speak briefly.
A man claiming to be Mr Brennan said: "We are very well now mentally and physically."
BELMONT, NC (WBTV) - The 911 dispatchers in Gaston County took a bizarre call about a cat stuck in a toilet this weekend.
The cat has never been a problem until Sunday. Klassette was in the kitchen and heard Charlie squealing. The sound was coming from the bathroom. The cat's back legs were stuck in the drain.
"He was splashing water everywhere," she said. Klassette tried everything to get the feline loose. "I thought he was just sitting there but when I went to pick him up he wouldn't move," she said.
She picked up the phone and called 911. The fire department arrived in five minutes. They used hammers to break the toilet bowl.
"They had to either bust the toilet or break his legs," Klassette said. In about 15 minutes, Charlie was free.
Klassette isn't sure whether her 3-year-old son William tried to flush Charlie or if the feline was trying to drink water from the bowl. Next time, Klassette says she'll leave the cover down. "He's a miracle cat," she said. "I thought he was a goner."
The family rescued the stray a short time ago and never intended to keep him. Charlie the cat is up for adoption and looking for a good home. Belmont is a nifty little city in the hills back of Charlotte. I lived there for a couple of months in 1973. My friend Ken and I had decided to do the Jack Kerouac thing and wander around the country when we got out of the army. We ended up there, flat broke. I mentioned this unpleasant fact to him. He said, "Gee, maybe we should get jobs or something."
"Jobs?" I said.
"Sure, it's simple. You work some, nowhere near as hard as the army, and they give you money every Friday."
There was a thread finishing mill in nearby Mount Holly. It turned out there was a serious labor shortage in the area. We strolled into the personnel office, and came out employed on the nightshift. We planned to stay only long enough for our funds to be replenished, but we met a couple of girls from Marshall University in Kentucky who were there for the summer, and ended up staying till school started. It's true what they say about Kentucky women, especially a certain 5'0" redhead. (Hi Marsha, if you're reading this;)).
Posted by: Cornsilk Blondie, formerly known as Swamp Blondie ||
09/17/2008 10:00
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#3
Wouldn't have been easier to have closed the lid and flushed the toliet?
Posted by: Jack is Back! ||
09/17/2008 11:50
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#4
How to wash a cat
1) Thoroughly clean the toilet.
2) Add the required amount of shampoo to the toilet water, and have both lids lifted.
3) Obtain the cat and soothe him while you carry him towards the bathroom.
4) In one smooth movement, put the cat in the toilet and close both lids (you may need to stand on the lid so that he cannot escape).
CAUTION: Do not get any part of your body too close to the edge, as his paws will be reaching out for any thing they can find.
5) Flush the toilet three or four times. This provides a "power wash and rinse" which I have found to be quite effective.
6) Have someone open the door to the outside and ensure that there are no people between the toilet and the outside door.
7) Stand behind the toilet as far as you can, and quickly lift both lids.
9) The now-clean cat will rocket out of the toilet, and run outside where he will dry himself.
Federal Housing Enterprise Regulatory Reform Act of 2005
John McCain joined Charles Hagel, Elizabeth Dole and John Sununu as a co-sponsor of this bill. It was killed by the Donks along with some help by some good-old-boy Trunks. In the meantime, the Obamesiah was second to only Christopher Dodd in the amount of campaign contributions received from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.
It will be interesting to see how Mac puts this up Obama's gluteus maximus in the upcoming debate. I can't wait. Get out the popcorn machine.
John McCain from the Congressional Record, May 25 2006
Mr. President, this week Fannie Mae's regulator reported that the company's quarterly reports of profit growth over the past few years were "illusions deliberately and systematically created" by the company's senior management, which resulted in a $10.6 billion accounting scandal.
The Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight's report goes on to say that Fannie Mae employees deliberately and intentionally manipulated financial reports to hit earnings targets in order to trigger bonuses for senior executives. In the case of Franklin Raines, Fannie Mae's former chief executive officer, OFHEO's report shows that over half of Mr. Raines' compensation for the 6 years through 2003 was directly tied to meeting earnings targets. The report of financial misconduct at Fannie Mae echoes the deeply troubling $5 billion profit restatement at Freddie Mac.
The OFHEO report also states that Fannie Mae used its political power to lobby Congress in an effort to interfere with the regulator's examination of the company's accounting problems. This report comes some weeks after Freddie Mac paid a record $3.8 million fine in a settlement with the Federal Election Commission and restated lobbying disclosure reports from 2004 to 2005. These are entities that have demonstrated over and over again that they are deeply in need of reform.
For years I have been concerned about the regulatory structure that governs Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac--known as Government-sponsored entities or GSEs--and the sheer magnitude of these companies and the role they play in the housing market. OFHEO's report this week does nothing to ease these concerns. In fact, the report does quite the contrary. OFHEO's report solidifies my view that the GSEs need to be reformed without delay.
I join as a cosponsor of the Federal Housing Enterprise Regulatory Reform Act of 2005, S. 190, to underscore my support for quick passage of GSE regulatory reform legislation. If Congress does not act, American taxpayers will continue to be exposed to the enormous risk that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac pose to the housing market, the overall financial system, and the economy as a whole.
I urge my colleagues to support swift action on this GSE reform legislation
#1
#2 in slush from Fan 'n' Fred, 1989-2008: the junior Senator from Illinois, with $126k-- even though he'd been in office only 2 years...
Wonder how much Jim Jordan gave Barack? Will Jordan disgorge his ill-gotten gains?
Posted by: tep ||
09/17/2008 2:05
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#2
Gonna be hard for McCain to stuff this one up the donks ass. By reading the article, it looks like it was submitted in '05 (when trunks had the majority) and never got out of committee.
Posted by: Mike N. ||
09/17/2008 3:19
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#3
Mike N.--I disagree. The margin was slim in the Senate in 2006. Take an indepth look at the actual members who killed the bill and I believe you will find that the majority of naysayers were the Donks and therefore the good intentioned Trunks could not succeed.
#4
Franklin Raines is one of 0bama's finance advisors.
Posted by: Grenter, Protector of the Geats ||
09/17/2008 9:36
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#5
I would go on the offensive on this. Taxpayers already know they will take it up the a$$ on this bailout and are getting pissed. Showing McCain tried to prevent it, and Bambi was one of Fannie's biggest receivers of money will cut a couple more points off Bambi's tanking numbers.
#6
The story, presented THIS way, will never appear in the MSM. The topic is not likely to come up in the debates in a way that would allow McCain to point out O'Bambi's failings.
#7
Top 12 recipients of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac campaign funds:
Dodd, Christopher $165,400 (Chair Banking Comm.)
Obama, Barack $126,349
Kerry, John $111,000
Bennett, Robert $107,999
Bachus, Spencer $103,300
Blunt, Roy $96,950
Kanjorski, Paul $96,000
Bond, Christopher $95,400
Shelby, Richard $80,000
Reed, Jack $78,250
Reid, Harry $77,000
Clinton, Hillary $76,050
#8
The way to get this out where the MSM has to cover it is if Sarah starts talking about it. For a time, at least, she can set the agenda any way she wishes. Fighting corruption is her claim to fame.She has plenty of entry points on this. I hope she goes for it.
Posted by: Richard of Oregon ||
09/17/2008 12:32
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#9
Well, I have just written my love letter to our worthy Senators Kohl and Feingold, telling them just what the housing crunch has done to my neighborhood (I can see three houses facing foreclosure from my front and back doors). I have reminded them of the political malfeasance behind Fannie and Freddie and challenged them to call for a special prosecutor to examine this mess. I expect to get boilerplate and platitudes back from them; but you never know.
#11
I expect to get boilerplate and platitudes back from them;
I would be extremely surprised if you got ANYTHING AT ALL back, they want to ignore it as hard as they can, and answering questions is NOT ignoring.
Their plan is to not answer (Do NOT Provide Any info or confirmation to your fears) and shortly they'll have another Flashy/shiny thing to distract you with.
OOOH look, fireworks, Vote O'Bambi into ofice, help make history.
What did you say? Mor what? Cri what? Can't hear you over all the cheering.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
09/17/2008 20:18
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STANDING BY THE STORY
The Obama campaign spent more than five hours on Monday attempting to figure out the best refutation of the explosive New York Post report that quoted Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari as saying that Barack Obama during his July visit to Baghdad demanded that Iraq not negotiate with the Bush Administration on the withdrawal of American troops. Instead, he asked that they delay such negotiations until after the presidential handover at the end of January.
The three problems, according to campaign sources: The report was true, there were at least three other people in the room with Obama and Zebari to confirm the conversation, and there was concern that there were enough aggressive reporters based in Baghdad with the sources to confirm the conversation that to deny the comments would create a bigger problem.
Instead, Obama's national security spokeswoman Wendy Morigi told reporters that Obama told the Iraqis that they should not rush through what she termed a "Strategic Framework Agreement" governing the future of U.S. forces until after President Bush left office. In other words, the Iraqis should not negotiate an American troop withdrawal.
According to a Senate staffer working for Sen. Joseph Biden, Biden himself got involved in the shaping of the statement. "The whole reason he's on the ticket is the foreign policy insight," explained the staffer.
#1
Worldview your way out of that one, Wonder Boy.
Posted by: tep ||
09/17/2008 1:58
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#2
So -- it's a difference of "demanding" and "delay."
Already having a "What is the meaning of is?" moment?
It was a pretty good sign it's true, when McCain release a press release concerning the statement.
In case you haven't read this (I read it here first at Rantburg U... in a comment... yeaaaaa) H/T to oh.. I'm so sorry, I don't remember who. You can stand up if you want, but I won't ask you to stand up.)
In the New York Post, conservative Iranian-born columnist Amir Taheri quoted Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari as saying the Democrat made the demand when he visited Baghdad in July, while publicly demanding an early withdrawal.
"He asked why we were not prepared to delay an agreement until after the US elections and the formation of a new administration in Washington," Zebari said in an interview, according to Taheri. . . .
But Obama's national security spokeswoman Wendy Morigi said Taheri's article bore "as much resemblance to the truth as a McCain campaign commercial."
In fact, Obama had told the Iraqis that they should not rush through a "Strategic Framework Agreement" governing the future of US forces until after President George W. Bush leaves office, she said.
In the face of resistance from Bush, the Democrat has long said that any such agreement must be reviewed by the US Congress as it would tie a future administration's hands on Iraq.
#8
I agree, OS. However, no one has ever actually been prosecuted under the Logan Act, and Obambi won't be either. It would be a great test case, though.
#11
Asking for soldiers to stay in harms way to benifit an election is treason. I know he will never get nailed for this, but if he wins, we know the military are pawns for his own benifit. Just F&*king wrong. God help America
Posted by: 49 Pan ||
09/17/2008 9:23
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#12
This won't mean a hill of beans. Obama cannot prevent Bush from ordering the vast majority of US forces from Iraq to Afghanistan, then Iraq refusing to allow their return, saying they are "unnecessary."
On top of that the Pentagon would suddenly develop a major budget shortfall, and be unable to shift the personnel back to Iraq without a major new appropriation passed by congress.
#13
Hussein keeps trying to burnish his management skills. I'd say this demonstrates his ability to manage a large criminal enterprise, which his entire campaign is. I keep getting mailers from the fool for a donation. Maybe I'll get a very large shovel on my next trip to Home Depot and donate that. Keep digging idiot.
#14
An empty suit with lots of bad advisors from the Clinton adminsitration. Besides being #2 in donations from Fannie and Freddie, a Freddie official responsible for this mess was in charge of VP vetting.
#15
Question: What circulation is this story getting outside the web? And the article (posted elsewhere on today's Burg) about McCain pointing out Fannie and Freddie's malfeasance: how far is that circulating?
How does one find out whether people are actually aware of these things? I'd like to know. The local birdcage liner gives the election ten inches of general news now that Mr. Obama is struggling. Sound bites on TV and radio are not particularly enlightening. So, is the word getting out?
#18
Mark Levin, a right wing radio host from DC urges all of us to call or email Congress and the White House demanding a Special Prosecutor be assigned to expose the democrats connections with the Fanny Mae and Freddy Mac meltdowns.
I urge the same. We collectively stopped the Dubai Ports World which was just a Muslim business from their takeover of our ports. We can certainly pressure the president and Congress to sacrifice some of their corrupt in trade for our taxes. The offenders will all be donkeys, so get those calls going.
It's our country only if we are willing to take it back.
#19
Tell 'em about the 'Malefactors of Great Wealth,' John!
Posted by: Fred ||
09/17/2008 11:17
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#20
and there was concern that there were enough aggressive reporters based in Baghdad with the sources to confirm the conversation that to deny the comments would create a bigger problem.
It didn't 'leak' because the Maliki government didn't want it to.
Apparently the Maliki government doesn't see Obama as being the strong horse (for now), and is hedging its bets.
#23
Now who will have the b***s to pursue an investigation?
Posted by Ulusoling Hatfield4645
You know who. The soon to be former Governer of the 49th state to join the Union, that's who.
The only real question is how far will she get with this once she's inside the Beltway?
#24
They should impeach Bush for allowing this to happen to Obama. If Bush hadn't gone to war in Iraq then Obama would not have had to have this secret negotiation on delaying the SFA. Its all Bush's fault, don't you see!
Posted by: Jack is Back! ||
09/17/2008 11:44
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#25
Logan Act Any citizen of the United States, wherever he may be, who, without authority of the United States, directly or indirectly commences or carries on any correspondence or intercourse with any foreign government or any officer or agent thereof, with intent to influence the measures or conduct of any foreign government or of any officer or agent thereof, in relation to any disputes or controversies with the United States, or to defeat the measures of the United States, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than three years, or both.
This section shall not abridge the right of a citizen to apply, himself or his agent, to any foreign government or the agents thereof for redress of any injury which he may have sustained from such government or any of its agents or subjects.
In response Move America Forward PAC released an ad this morning slamming Senator Barack Obama for his disgraceful political games with the US military:
#27
If you interpreted the Logan Act in a very restrictive way, all the hundreds of Governors and Mayors who take foreign trips to brag about the companies in their State/City and how much they can do for the foreign govt are guilty (or get the govts to invest in commercial real estate in their states).
I think there is in effect a very high bar to leap to commit a crime here.
#28
This POS doesn't seem to know when to stop digging, does he? I hope enough people are smart enough to see through the flim-flam and NOT put this "person" into a position of trust. He's not worth it.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
09/17/2008 13:51
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#29
You can't hit him with the Logan Act! He's a citizen of the world....
Posted by: Cornsilk Blondie, formerly known as Swamp Blondie ||
09/17/2008 14:40
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#30
The problem is OP that the MSM will willingly provide him all the cover he needs.
And there are a *lot* of people who still rely on the MSM for all their news. If the MSM doesn't metion it - these people will never know. All they will know is that Palin doesn't know what the Bush Doctrine is and whatever bullshit lies Charles Gibson and the gang will tell them.
#32
If you interpreted the Logan Act in a very restrictive way, all the hundreds of Governors and Mayors who take foreign trips to brag about the companies in their State/City and how much they can do for the foreign govt are guilty (or get the govts to invest in commercial real estate in their states).
I think there is in effect a very high bar to leap to commit a crime here.
MHW
I do not believe so, mhw. The separation of powers distinguishes the government of the United States from individual states, so those entities are not covered. In addition,t he logan act, per the quote, relates only to discussions relating to disputes and controversies, so strictly promotional activities with foreign powers is permissible. It is when, as a condition for some agreement, that the foreign government wants the visitor to intercede on behalf of that foreign goveernment in a dispute with the United States, or run interference to oppose a policy of the United States government that would adversely affect the rest of the country, then the Logan act applies.
#33
I believe the O-Man (or his 'team') didn't want the "Strategic Framework Agreement" to go forward now as they wanted to make it look like the Iraqis suddenly changed their minds and fell under his 'spell' once he was sworn in as president. This would make his first '60 days' look like he was actually accomplishing something. He was trying to play the 'arab game' with respects to saying one thing and doing another. Unfortunately for him, the Iraqis have a tad more experience in the 'deception' department.
Posted by: Mullah Richard ||
09/17/2008 16:03
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#34
Mhw is correct about the Logan Act being a high bar.
However, Obama cleared it with the ease of an olympic pole vaulter.
Posted by: Mike N. ||
09/17/2008 16:57
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#35
The funny part about this is how the Pentagon, the Bush administration, and the Iraqis had taken all of this into account even before Obama was a candidate.
It is called prior planning. The assumption had to have been that the Democrats would eventually find some way of screwing things up, just like they did in Vietnam. So Iraq *has* to be completely prepared for independence by next inauguration day.
If Obama is elected, immediately the Iraqis might *demand* that US forces leave their country without delay. Any hesitation, for any reason, and they will protest to the UNSC that the US mandate is over.
And Iraq will do this because we have told them ahead of time that they will have to do this, to protect them from the bitter hatred of the Democrats. Otherwise, Bush might order US forces out of Iraq and into Afghanistan, as Plan 'B'.
Iraq could then erect barriers to their return, and the Pentagon could complain they don't have the funds to bring troops back to Iraq.
Whatever works. The Pentagon has a long and angry memory of congress and the Democrats betraying them, and they are not going to let it happen again.
#3
There's an old Willie & Joe cartoon, with Joe and Willie in a foxhole and a tank nearby with Joe saying "I'd ruther dig. A movin' foxhole attracts th' eye."
Rep. John P. Murtha (D-PA) is an 18th-term member of Congress, representing Pennsylvania's 12th congressional district. Rep. Murtha chairs the Defense Appropriations Subcommittee of the House Appropriations Committee. Rep. Murtha's ethics violations stem from abuse of his position on the subcommittee to benefit the lobbying firm of a former long-term staffer and from threatening to block earmarks of other members for political purposes. Rep. Murtha was included as a member to watch in CREW's 2006 and 2007 reports on congressional corruption.
PMA Group
Paul Magliocchetti worked with Rep. Murtha as a senior staffer on the Appropriations Committee Subcommittee on Defense for 10 years. After leaving the committee, Mr. Magliocchetti founded the PMA Group, which has become one of the most prominent Washington, D.C. defense lobbying firms. Since the second quarter of 2007 campaign cycle, the PMA Group and ten of the firm's clients ranked in the top 20 contributors to Rep. Murtha, having made campaign contributions totaling $190,880. In the 2006, 2004 and 2002 cycles, PMA and its clients have given $274,649, $236,799, $279,074 in contributions respectively. In turn, many of PMA's clients have benefitted significantly from Rep. Murtha's earmarks. In the Fiscal Year 2008 Defense Appropriations bill, Rep. Murtha helped steer at least $100.5 million to PMA clients--up from $95.1 million in the 2006 Defense Appropriations bill.
Continued on Page 49
#2
Oh my! What will Momma Peloski say! First Charlie Rangel and now this. With a 9% approval rating and an electon near, she simply cannot tolerant any hint of Democratic scandal. Cut the lines, Nancy. He's just pulling you down.
Posted by: Richard of Oregon ||
09/17/2008 11:20
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Posted by: Red Dawg ||
09/17/2008 1:54
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#3
I call time out. The story says this kid was holding the fish while he was taking a leak then the fish slipped out of his hand and fell into his penis. I'm pretty sure I speak for all males when I say we point that think downward. Nothing call 'fall in'.
This kid was 'experimenting'.
Posted by: Mike N. ||
09/17/2008 3:37
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#4
That's what I'd tell my mother.
Posted by: Richard of Oregon ||
09/17/2008 10:53
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#5
That's prolly the kind of lame-ass story I'd make up if I stuck a fish up my junk and lost it.
Ten Taliban were killed and several others injured on Tuesday as Pakistan Army helicopter gunships and fighter jets fired shells at militant hideouts in Bajaur Agency as United States' drones prowled the sky over another Taliban sanctuary on the Afghan border.
In a statement issued by the media cell, Frontier Corps NWFP headquarters said security forces had pounded Taliban positions in the Loyesam, Tang Khata and Shakai areas of Bajaur Agency. Military spokesman Major Murad Khan said ground troops were also searching house-to-house for Taliban. "They have constructed underground bunkers and are putting up stiff resistance. Troops are clearing each and every house in the area," he said.
Khan said he had no information about casualties in the current fighting, but the military has said that 117 people have been killed in Bajaur over the past week. An intelligence official in Bajaur said a helicopter gunship had killed nine militants in an attack on a vehicle east of Khar. Residents said US drones had flown over the region, but had not fired any missiles.
Curfew: The statement said an indefinite curfew had been enforced in the area, adding that people were fleeing to safer places. It said the Frontier Corps had seized various types of ammunition and large amounts of Afghan currency notes during a search of militant compounds around Tang Khata.
Helicopter gunships and fighter jets had killed 24 Taliban in raids on their hideouts in Bajaur Agency on Monday. Several Taliban strongholds had been destroyed in attacks on bunkers in Loyesam, Tang Khata, Rashakai, Tandar Gat, Kirala, Bai Cheena, Tangai and Khazana.
Security forces had also patrolled Loy Khwar, Tangi, Kotkai and Charmang but had not made ground advances. Curfew had been relaxed in parts of the agency earlier in the day.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/17/2008
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#1
Why am I skeptical of a report claiming the Frontier Corps is doing anything useful? But maybe they're like some laborers I know, who only work when someone is watching (from a drone circling overhead?)
The Inter-Services Intelligence agency (ISI) needs reform but there is no indication this is happening yet, the top US diplomat for South Asia said on Monday.
"It has to be done," Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs Richard Boucher said of revamping the ISI. Asked if he had seen signs of reform, he told Reuters, "No, I don't have anything in particular I would point to right now."
Despite its supposed help in supposedly fighting Al Qaeda, the ISI is viewed with deep suspicion by US for retaining links to the Taliban.
Pakistan's new government led by Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani tried to rein in the ISI in July by placing it under the Interior Ministry's control, only to reverse course within days in an embarrassing flip-flop.
Asked why the new Pakistani government was more likely to act than under its predecessor, General (r) Pervez Musharraf, Boucher replied, "It's sad to say, but the problem has become more and more acute."
Pointing to growing militant violence inside Pakistan, Boucher said, "Increasingly, the problem is not seen as doing what the US wants but doing what is necessary for the future of Pakistan."
Posted by: Fred ||
09/17/2008
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#1
The ISI has about as much of a chance of reforming itself as a snowball in hell, or Congress, for that matter.
Posted by: Alaska Paul in Tok, AK ||
09/17/2008 3:32
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The Inter-Services Intelligence agency (ISI) needs reform
A front-ranking leader of the outlawed Purba Bangler Communist Party (ML-Lal Pataka) ...
No, not a Biplobi, new or old ...
... has been killed in a gunfight between some of his accomplices and police at Shahapar area under Bagmara upazila of the district in the early hours of Monday, police sources said.
No, we don't know where that is.
According to the official sources, the dead identified as Abul Kana, 40, son of late Yakub Ali of Hamirkutsa village under the same upazila, was a fugitive on twelve systems of around 12 criminal cases including a number of murder ones.
So his mother didn't love him.
On a tip-off, ...
...thanks to Mahmoud the Weasel ...
... a RAB team rounded up Abul Kana from the same area Sunday afternoon and subsequently handed over him to Bagmara Police.
After some gentle tossing and thumping. Wonder how many times he fell down the stairs ...
When the police was taking him to nearby Shahapar area to capture his other accomplices and recover illegal firearms ...
Must be a joint training program between the RAB and the local coppers ...
... and found some terrorists holding a meeting at around 2.20 a.m.
"Hokay, who votes that the Biplobis are a bunch of reactionaries?"
"New Biplobis or Old Biplobis?"
Sensing the police presence, ...
... spider sense, cry of outrage, and then ...
... the outlawed opened fire that led to a gun-battle between them, which continued for around 15 to 20 minutes.
With not a single recovered round for ballistics.
At one stage Abul Kana tried to escape but sustained bullet injuries.
Noone escapes, Abul, particularly with one behind each ear.
Police rushed him to Bagmara Upazila Health Complex ...
... not a Level I trauma center, not that it matters for our hero ...
... where the doctors declared him dead.
"He's dead, Jim."
Police also seized a shutter-gun along with four rounds of bullets and two indigenous weapons from the spot.
The local coppe shoppe was trusted to handle the shutter gun?
Posted by: Steve White ||
09/17/2008
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Somchai Wongsawat expressed confidence Tuesday that his party can work out its internal problem, and insisted there are no plans to dissolve the House of Representatives.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/17/2008
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At least three Taliban were killed and seven injured in a clash with security forces in Darra Adam Khel, sources in the Frontier Constabulary said on Tuesday. The clash began when the security forces raided the Zohr Killin area after being informed about the presence of some Taliban there. The sources said troops were pursuing the Taliban who had fled the area.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/17/2008
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MANGALORE: The members of the New Life Fellowship Trust, which has been the main target of the Bajrang Dal for allegedly distributing seditious literature during its meetings, is pained that even the Christian community is accusing them of forcible conversions.
"We admit that there are conversions. But they are not with inducement. It's happening out of people's own will after 'inner experience' with the Lord, like me," said NLFT pastor Donald P Menezes, an executive committee member of Karnataka Missions Network. "According to the Bible, it's a sin to offer inducement and convert people."
"Please don't kill us!"
Menezes, a former bank manager, became a 'born again believer' in 1979 and took pastorship as his fulltime profession after quitting his job in 1987.
"People from different religions come to our meeting for healing. They have been cured of deadly diseases like cancer," he claimed. Regarding allegations of foreign funding, Menezes said NLFT gets donations from its members worldwide. "My son from America, who is also a member of NLFT, sends money. Actually we all give 1/10th of our earnings to this trust," he said, adding that their accounts were open to scrutiny for the government. "We have nothing to hide."
On the 'Satyadarshini' pamphlet, which Bajrang Dal claimed as NLFT's, Menezes said he heard about "it four days back and saw it physically today" (when this correspondent showed him a copy.)
Menezes also showed NLFT literature, which is all about Jesus Christ. "We don't believe in derogatory remarks against any religion, because it again amounts to sin," he said.
He challenged Bajrang Dal to come with proof that they actually got the controversial literature from a NLFT centre. There are two centres in the city active for the past 25 years.
Its Moodabidri centre was attacked in April 2002 and got police protection during Sunday services. Even on Sunday, a police call alerted them and the deflected attack was on Adoration Monastery. Menezes said about 500 people attend its services in English (150), Kannada (250), Konkani (80) and Malayalam (20).
Posted by: Fred ||
09/17/2008
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#1
That hasn't really been the Christian M.O. for the last 5 centuries. It's a muzzy thing, you wouldn't understand. I know I don't.
Zimbabwe's new Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai urges the international community to help end the country's economic and political crisis.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/17/2008
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#1
Sorry, Morgan, we are tapped out, and besides, we are in the middle of our own economic and political crisis. Maybe the chicoms are interested. They are fascinated by interesting countries like yours, the Sudan, Myanmar, Iran, and others.
Again, sorry, but times and farmin b hard.
Posted by: Alaska Paul in Tok, AK ||
09/17/2008 3:18
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Maybe talk to Iran, I heard they found a way to get around the laws of supply and demand by doing this cool deal with their money where they drop some zeros off it.
Muss be fizziks or sumten.
Posted by: Mike N. ||
09/17/2008 3:23
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#12
Wow! She looks like she works out. Wouldn't it be nice to visit that gym?
Posted by: Richard of Oregon ||
09/17/2008 10:43
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#13
STAND BACK EVERYBODY! Ima read up all about first aid and that tourniquet on her leg has obviously slipped; I will put it back where it rightfully belongs.
It may take ( no, it WILL take) several adjustments to get it positioned just so, but I will take the time necessary......
#16
AlanC; i know you did, but you gotta understand things of this nature are very delicate, and requires exceptional training. You are right, however, something like this will require a team approach, as fatigue is likely.
The Truth and Accountability Commission (Tac) yesterday heard seven more government officials from Dhaka Power Distribution Company, former Dhaka Electricity Supply Authority, and Titas Gas who claimed to own ill-gotten wealth worth Tk 13 lakh only.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/17/2008
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(Xinhua) -- At least four civilians were slightly injured Tuesday afternoon when a civilian bus was exploded by suspected Tamil Tiger rebels in Sri Lankan capital Colombo, defense officials said.
Officials from the Media Center for National Security said the explosion happened inside a bus around 1:50 p.m. (0820 GMT) in central Colombo. No suspect has been arrested, the officials said, adding that the bus was seriously damaged.
Passengers immediately got off the bus and reached safety distance after an unattended parcel was found inside the bus and the parcel exploded within minutes, said the officials.
The military said the explosion was another attempt by Tamil Tiger rebels to cause mayhem in the island's capital when they are facing fierce assaults by the security forces in the northern Kilinochchi and Mullaittivu districts.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/17/2008
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(PTI) At least 10 militants were killed in air strikes by Pakistani security forces today in a troubled northwestern tribal region, where the army is conducting a crackdown on the local Taliban. Gunship helicopters and jet planes fired shells and bombs at militant hideouts in Bajaur Agency of North West Frontier Province. More than 200 Taliban fighters have been killed in fierce clashes in the restive tribal area since Thursday.
Militant positions in Loisam, Tangkhata and Shakai area of Bajaur were targeted, killing at least 10 insurgents, Geo TV reported quoting sources.
Indefinite curfew was enforced in the area while people were fleeing to safe places, it said.
The security forces have claimed that 1,100 militants have been killed in Bajaur Agency since the army launched an operation against the Taliban in the area some six weeks ago.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/17/2008
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Both Hillary Clinton and Sarah Palin will participate in a protest on Monday of the presence of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadienjad, NBC News has learned.
The two politicians will not appear together at the protest but will both participate, according to those close to the organizing of this protest. The event is being organized by a coalition of groups (mostly Jewish) upset by the presence of Ahmadienjad in New York at the opening of the U.N. General Assembly and the threat Iran presents to "global security."
The protest will take place across the street from the U.N.
Posted by: Cornsilk Blondie, formerly known as Swamp Blondie ||
09/17/2008
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Posted by: Mike N. ||
09/17/2008 0:48
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Clinton aides were furious.
"Her attendance was news to us, and this was never billed to us as a partisan political event," said Clinton spokesman Philippe Reines. "Sen. Clinton will therefore not be attending."
#6
Hillary thought she would be the media darling at this event. When she found out Sarah Palin would be there she new she would get second billing so she left in a Huff, which is similar to an Edsil.
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
09/17/2008 7:39
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#7
The Gathering of Eagles will be there distributing thousands of copies of the 'Obsession' documentary. It should be interesting.
DanNY
Posted by: DanNY ||
09/17/2008 7:48
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#10
No Obama rep at the affair? Palin gets the protest to herself? Beautiful.
Posted by: Richard of Oregon ||
09/17/2008 11:13
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#11
and this was never billed to us as a partisan political event
So ... wouldn't having notable representatives there from both major political parties make it at least a "bi-partisan" (if not a "beyond partisan") event? Having both of them there would have been an even better message to the world, imo.
The family of abducted Israel Defense Forces soldier Gilad Shalit on Tuesday blasted the transfer of money to Gaza by Israel as tantamount to the funding of terror.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/17/2008
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#3
My kid speaks Japanese, some Hebrew, a bit of Yiddish. I speak some French, a little Hebrew, and yes, a tad of Spanish. I guess that makes us part of the evil elite or something.
“With all due respect, many in the entertainment industry are deep into mind-altering substance abuse, and when one’s logic and intellectual calculating powers are replaced with dopey feel-good, fantasy- driven denial, the Democratic party serves them well."
-- Ted Nugent
Posted by: Steve White ||
09/17/2008
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#3
Geez Ted, don't you know how to make a political statement?!
You have to make a semi-coherent rant and scream profanities and doom-laced predictions! You have to assert fantastic claims, then when asked to reinforce it with facts, freak out and yell "conspiracy", "Nazi Stormtroopers", "Racism", or something like that. Nobody's gonna listen to a rational person.
Jeesh!
Lebanon's rival factions wrapped up the first session of their national reconciliation talks on Tuesday, held to resolve lingering disputes, but agreed to meet again on November 5, 2008, for a second round of the talks.
Leaders of 14 political factions met at the presidential palace for the talks headed by President Michel Suleiman that lasted for three hours before they were adjourned until Nov. 5. "Agreeing to dialogue in and of itself means that all subjects are open to discussion," said Suleiman, who chaired the talks. "The only thing banned here is failure or a reaching a dead-end."
A statement from Suleiman's office released after a three-hour meeting said the president would mediate bilateral talks in the meantime to "consolidate the reconciliation"
Disarming Hezbollah
The participants agreed to "launch talks on a national defense strategy... to reach a shared vision on this strategy," the statement said. The main focus of the dialogue is on forging a defense strategy for Lebanon but there is widespread skepticism that an agreement can be reached given deep-seated divisions over Hezbollah's arsenal.
The Shiite Muslim group, considered a terrorist organization by the United States, has refused to disarm arguing that its weapons and guerrilla army are essential to defend the country against neighboring Israel.
However members of the Western-backed majority in parliament argue that Hezbollah's weapons undermine the authority of the state which should be the sole decision-maker on matters of defense.
Hezbollah's arsenal became an even more sensitive topic after it staged a spectacular takeover of downtown Beirut in May that crippled neighboring businesses in an explosion of sectarian violence that left 65 people dead and raised fears of a return to the dark days of the 1975-1990 civil war. "All Lebanese are hoping that the dialogue will be successful but a real solution will only be found when Hezbollah stops using its weapons to serve regional interests and stops imposing its hegemony by force on the local scene," said an editorial in An-Nahar newspaper, which is close to the anti-Syrian ruling coalition in parliament.
Newspapers close to the rival camp backed by Syria and Iran said those taking part in the dialogue face an arduous task given their differences. "The various political camps believe the discussions on the national defense strategy will get bogged down into futile debate and no one will see any results for a long time," the As-Safir newspaper said.
The independent Al-Anwar said the closed-door talks were taking place "in a minefield called Lebanon, with the mines produced locally and abroad."
Posted by: Fred ||
09/17/2008
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Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman was elected unopposed as chairman of the parliament's Special Committee on Kashmir on Tuesday.
In the committee's first meeting, convened exclusively for electing its chairman, Pakistan People's Party (PPP) member Aftab Hussain Jilani proposed Fazl's name, which was seconded by Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) chief whip in the National Assembly Sheikh Aftab Ahmed.
Fazl is currently in Saudi Arabia to perform umra.
The members of the committee suggested that the Secretariat should prepare suitable material on Kashmir for dissemination among the masses to highlight the Kashmir cause.
Labour Minister Khursheed Shah informed the meeting about the PPP-led government's resolve very serious on the Kashmir issue. In his meeting with Nawaz Sharif, President Asif Ali Zardari had vowed to give top priority to the issue, Shah added.
Later, the labour minister told reporters that the Kashmir Committee would make every effort to find a solution to the Kashmir dispute and hold a detailed discussion on the issue in parliament. Shah said that some members had expressed their concern over the reported ban imposed by the United Kingdom on Fazl travelling to the UK.
Election for chairpersons of two more standing committees -- the Committee on Foreign Affairs and the Committee on Water and Power -- will be held on Wednesday.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani congratulated Fazl on becoming the chairman of the Kashmir Committee.
In his message, the prime minister hoped that Fazl would be a great source of inspiration for the Kashmiri people and would benefit their cause.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/17/2008
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#2
This guy has been around for years. He led what was called the Jamiat-e-Ulama-i-Islam in the early nineteen nineties and was a primary figure in the Islamist movement determined to reverse Pakistan government alliance with Washington. In 1991 he created the Harakat-ul-Ansar (Movement of the Followers)which gave support to mujahideen jihadists continuing the fight in Afghanistan and Kashmir.
(PTI) Pakistan and Afghanistan must lead efforts to combat extremism along their restive border, President Asif Ali Zardari and British Premier Gordon Brown said here today while side-stepping the issue of the US missile attacks in the volatile region. "It was for the governments of Pakistan and Afghanistan to lead the efforts to combat this extremism, with the support of the international community," the two leaders said in a joint statement after their meeting at the 10, Downing Street.
However, they refrained from mentioning the controversial cross-border raids on the Pakistani soil by the US-led forces in Afghanistan which have led to tension between Islamabad and Washington.
During their over two-hour talks, Brown and Zardari agreed that the UK and Pakistan had a shared agenda in tackling violent extremism in both countries.
"They noted that there was a particularly acute problem with extremism emanating from the Afghanistan/Pakistan border region. This had an impact on Pakistan as much as anywhere else, but was also impacting on UK forces in Afghanistan," the statement said.
Brown and Zardari noted that it was the people of Pakistan and Afghanistan who suffered most directly from such extremism. They also agreed that a stable and strong democracy in Pakistan would play an important role in promoting peace in the region.
The Prime Minister and President welcomed the on-going collaboration between the UK and Pakistani governments to tackle violent extremism and radicalisation. They agreed to enhance this cooperation in support of a comprehensive approach by the government of Pakistan.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/17/2008
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#1
I'll feel a lot better about the possible outcomes there if I see more focus on the drug trade. Boom booms take lots of money. Drugs are the only internal source for that kind of dough. Foreign oil profits is the other main source. Much more pressure needs to be applied on those two sources for things to improve. Then, like in Iraq, turn the population against the extremists by giving them some stability and opportunity to prosper. Up to now, our patchwork efforts pretty well guarentee a perpetual conflict.
Posted by: Richard of Oregon ||
09/17/2008 12:05
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The UN nuclear watchdog showed documents and photographs on Tuesday suggesting Iran secretly tried to modify a missile cone to fit a nuclear bomb, diplomats said, and Tehran again dismissed the findings as forged.
Iran said an International Atomic Energy Agency inquiry into its nuclear activity was at a dead-end because the IAEA was demanding Tehran reveal conventional military secrets without nuclear dimensions. Iran has denied seeking atom bombs.
The Vienna-based UN watchdog said in a report on Monday that Iranian stonewalling had brought an agency inquiry into whether Tehran had covertly researched ways to make a nuclear bomb to a standstill.
Britain has accused Iran of showing contempt for the UN watchdog and, with the United States and France, vowed to seek harsher sanctions on Tehran over its defiance of UN demands for full disclosure and a suspension of uranium enrichment.
The IAEA wants Iran to clarify intelligence material pointing to links between Iranian projects to process uranium, test high explosives and modify a Shahab-3 missile cone in a way suitable for a nuclear warhead.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/17/2008
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#1
The IAEA is going to keep screwing around until a huge boom happens, then they'll CYA as hard as they can.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
09/17/2008 10:53
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Amid fears of a full blown crisis in the global financial system, the U.S. Federal Reserve on Tuesday pumped $50 billion into the financial system to help ease credit stresses, a day after upheaval in the American financial system sent shock waves through the stock market, producing the worst day on Wall Street in seven years.
IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn, meanwhile, warned the global financial crisis is not over and more banks could close, possibly leading to the disappearance of the independent investment houses. "The fact that a certain number of banks in the United States are restructuring shouldn't lead to panic," he told AFP in the wake of Monday's collapse of major U.S. investment bank Lehman Brothers. "But these events add to the uncertainty, and financial tensions cannot be excluded in the short term," with banks other than Lehman Brothers also in a bad position, he said.
Predicting "a narrower global financial sector", the International Monetary Fund managing director said certain "players will disappear", particularly in the United States, with the possible gradual disappearance of independent investment banks like Lehman or Merrill Lynch.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/17/2008
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#1
See CHINESE MIL FORUM/REDDIT > MARKET ORACLE.UK -THE END OF WESTERN CAPITALIST CIVILIZATION [ + US Power as USA is now bankrupt]???
#3
I don't have a word strong enough for the people who knowingly led the markets into this position in the first place. They knew it was coming, and didn't care as long as they could rake in money before the bubble burst.
#7
The Russian excursion into Georgia certainly has paid off well for them if their markets are any indication. I'm sure their market dive is the fault of "The West".
(AKI) - A former general with Iran's Revolutionary Guards, now military advisor to Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has announced that the Revolutionary Guards have been tasked with patrolling the Persian Gulf and protecting ports in the south of the country.
The armed forces, who were until now involved in the defence of the country's maritime borders, have been removed and the navy is only been deployed on the northern maritime boundary of the Caspian Sea. The decision was taken after news that other foreign navies, particularly the US Navy, was headed towards the Persian Gulf.
"The US fleet is afraid of the fast ships of the Revolutionary Guards and their capacity for immediate reactions to every violation in our national waters," said Rahim Safavi.
In the past 12 months, the Revolutionary Guards' ships have come close to US ships in international waters several times and on more than one occasion they narrowly avoided an accident at the last minute.
Rahim Safavi has also announced that the Revolutionary Guards' missiles cover the entire region of the Persian Gulf. "No vessel can navigate this area without coming in sight of our missiles," he said.
In June, the leader of the Revolutionary Guards, Mohammad Ali Jaafari, had threatened the closure of the Strait of Hormuz through which 40 percent of the world's oil passes, if Iran was attacked.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/17/2008
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#1
They probably aren't aware that "seeing" and "hitting" aren't the same thing.
#2
Iran's Army is repor in charge of the CASPIAN SEA + GULF OF OMAN, which undoubtedly gives Russia peace of mind???
ION WAFF > PENTAGON PROPOSES SALE OF THAAD [US GMD] TO UAE, + MOSCOW DEFENSE BRIEF [MDB.ru] > IMPLICATIONS OF THE RUSSIAN-GEORGIAN CONFLICT ON GLOBAL POLITICS.
Interesting - Artic proclaims RUSSIA is a WORLD POWER AND STATE WID REGIONAL-LOCAL INTERESTS, wid primary NATIONALIST-LOCALIST RANKED/PRIORITIZED FOCII in ITSELF EURO and EURASIA AS PERTINENT TO ITS RUSS-CENTERED AGENDUMS, whereas the USA IS A MASSIVE SUPERPOWER [hyperpower] + TRULY GLOBAL = EXTRA-WORLDLY/DIMENSIONAL POWER WHOM CAN'T AFFORD TO CONSIDER LOCAL ONLY INTERESTS OUTSIDE OF OTHER.
* IMO MORE SUPPORT FOR MY CONTENTION THAT THE RUSSO-GEORGIAN CONFLICT > MORE COVERT EMPLACEMENT OF "US-NATO/EU IN ASIA", NOTSOMUCH
"RUSSIA VERSUS US-NATO/EU"!?
ION GUARDIAN.UK > PAKISTANI TRIBAL CHIEFS THREATEN TO JOIN TALEBAN [unless USA ceases attacks inside Pakistan]. Chiefs are believed to represent approxi 500,000 locals, + also threaten to merge/join AFGHAN MILITANTS IN JOINT MILOPS AGZ USA.
#3
See also MEDVEDEV: AN ATTACK ON IRAN WILL ENDANGER THE ENTIRE WORLD. IMO Medvey likely means NUCLEAR MILITANCY-TERRORISM, and NOT necessarily ISLAMIST???
#4
Pappy, if you're reading this, how difficult would it be to sink everything Iranian at the opening of hostilities? Provided the US gets the choice of when, not Iran.
Posted by: Mike N. ||
09/17/2008 1:16
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#5
Who says we have to do it by ourselves? Shouldn't the EUropeons be more worried about this? Since they are 10X more affected by energy disruptions than us? What about China? Not a peep out of them. Australia will help with the heavy lifting, that's their nature, to do their share. But the rest of the world seems like a bunch of worthless deadasses on this.
#6
Wouldn't it be a hoot, if one of those aircraft carriers happened to have on board about a hundred small, fast boats, each of which equipped with weaponry like ma deuce, with ball and incendiary?
With a 2000m max effective range, it would be like a small boat version of the Marianas Turkey Shoot.
#7
Interpretation: Regular Iranian armed forces, particularly the navy, aren't trusted by the regime to engage in agressive actions against US/allied forces.
how difficult would it be to sink everything Iranian at the opening of hostilities? Provided the US gets the choice of when, not Iran.
Everything? Not likely. What could be hit are missile emplacements, support facilities, harbors, bases, 'major' vessels, etc.
Posted by: Richard of Oregon ||
09/17/2008 12:09
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#10
The pros don't look at it as 'strutting talk', Richard. If the Iranian govt is putting the fanatics in place and removing the regulars, that makes things more unstable.
#11
As for "adjustments", I think the best thing the US could do would be to put Apache Longbow helis on all Navy ships - anywhere from one to 30 each, whatever they can support. The Apache chain gun would turn anyone in a small boat to hamburger, and attract every shark in the Indian Ocean. Anything smaller than a Frigate would be dead on sight, and anything larger would be taken out by anti-ship missiles from the cruisers and destroyers protecting the carriers.
What would REALLY be neat is to be able to fly off and land a squadron of A-10s from a carrier, but that's just wishful thinking...
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
09/17/2008 21:58
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Georgia claims intercepted phone calls prove its attack against South Ossetia started 20 hours after an invasion by Russian troops.
Russia dismissed the allegations as "not serious".
The recordings released Tuesday by Georgia aimed to blame Moscow for the five-day war that killed hundreds of people. The recordings are purportedly intercepts of two exchanges between a South Ossetian border guard at the southern entrance to the Roki tunnel, and another guard at the headquarters in the South Ossetian capital.
According to the English translations of the recordings, in the first call, which purportedly began at 3:41 a.m. local time on Aug. 7, the South Ossetian guard at the tunnel says "they have moved armored personnel carriers out and the tunnel is full."
In the next call, about 10 minutes later, the guard says "armor and people" had emerged from the tunnel. Asked whether there was a lot of armor, the guard says, "Well, tanks, BMPs and those things."
Russia said the force movements referred to in the intercepts may have been a routine rotation by Russian peacekeeping forces already operating in Georgia before the war broke out. The tunnel, which connects the South Ossetia to Russia, is over 2 miles (3.7 kilometers) long. "Allegations that they have eavesdropped on someone and heard something are simply not serious,'' Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Andrei Nesterenko said.
Ever since Georgia and Russia's engagement in a five-day war last month, both sides have tried to prove the other as the first aggressor in the hopes of shedding the blame for the death of hundreds of people.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/17/2008
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#1
I wish I could get a USDS schoolarship to study in Ivy Lague university and be as smart as Saakashvilli.
#3
If there was massive Russian movement, then wouldn't the Georgians have attacked them at the tunnel? No such attacks occurred. In fact, on Aug. 7, the Georgian Defense Minister went on state television to announce that his troops were acting "to restore the constitutional order," without reference to any other cause. At the time, President Saakashvili said they were moving against South Ossetia militias, and that is exactly what they did. In fact, the "Peacekeeper" barracks were a major target in the blitzkreig. Reports of the 9 in place "Monitors" of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (the US is a member state) contradicts the Georgian position on their conduct. The fog of war rises again.
#4
While it is fine to fantasize that Georgia could have attacked the Russians at the tunnel, that ignores the fact that the Russians had tactical air superiority over South Ossetia. That superiority was evidenced by shooting down Georgian UAVs going back to April and the ravaging of Georgian Air Force assets during the opening days of the conflict.
There are reports that a Georgian commando group was parachuted into the area south of the tunnel and managed to destroy a bridge and about 15 armored vehicles before being wiped out. The force that was sent to relieve them was the force that was accused of attacking the South Ossetian capital which sits astride the only road to the tunnel.
If these reports are true then Georgia owes a great deal to that group who delayed the Russian advance for 24-48 hours and gave the Georgians breathing space until world opinion could halt the Russian advance outside Tblisi.
The intercepted phone conversations serve to demonstrate that the Georgians were aware of the Russian invasion. The Georgians appear from the other reports to have acted promptly in defense of their country.
Posted by: DanNY ||
09/17/2008 7:42
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#5
"I wish I could understand you rooting for russia."
G(r)omgoru can correct me, but I believe he had emigrated from Russia to Israel.
#7
Ok, I'll try to listen more to your own brand of propaganda then, since it's obviously the better one out there.
I, for one, welcome my new russian Overlords! All hail the mighty putin (the manly, blue-eyed blond who wrestled away russia from the grip of the jooooooooo-ish oligarchs, according to my fellow gallic wingnuts). And since I'm now in agreement with the definite majority of the french reacosphère (russia = good, the only force standing against the Empire along with other nationalist regimes like iran, georgia = lackey of the Washington-Tel Aviv axis and their pipeline, bad), I'll just try not to become more Judeo-Vigilant (Judeo-Skeptic from times to times, with Judeo-Indifferent as a default mode) than I already am... because I know you already are wary of gentiles, as you said you knew about them, growing up in their midst... in jooooooooooo-friendly russia, the home of the manly blue-eyed sons of the Rus.
So, dry-witted G(r)om, thanks for the enlightening correction! Now, I know better.
The Bush administration expects an uphill battle in Congress for permission to use counterterrorism funds to upgrade Pakistan's F-16 fighters, the State Department's top diplomat for South Asia said on Monday.
But even if lawmakers balk, the State Department believes it has the authority to shift counterterrorism aid to the fighter programme. "For the moment, we're not taking a legalistic approach to this. We're trying to work it out with the Congress," Richard Boucher, assistant secretary for South and Central Asian Affairs, said in an interview with Reuters.
Analysts say the F-16 and other big-ticket military items have in the past been viewed by Islamabad as weapons to help Pakistan counter its rival, India. In July, two senior Democratic lawmakers asked the administration not to use the $226.5 million to refurbish the F-16s. They said they feared the plan diverted cash from more urgent counterterrorism equipment like helicopters and night-vision goggles.
But Boucher said the F-16s had also been used for counterterrorism missions in hundreds of sorties targeting Taliban and Al Qaeda in the Tribal Areas in recent months. The F-16 upgrade was badly needed, he said, and would give Pakistan a more effective counterterrorism tool, enabling forces to work at night and improve precision-strike capability.
He also said the money would come from areas such as maritime patrol programmes, which were not as urgently needed as the fighter upgrades. "I think it's an uphill climb but we don't shy away from uphill climbs," Boucher said of the State Department's effort to convince Congress to allow it to shift the funds to the Pakistani F-16 programme.
Lockheed payment: Over the summer, the Bush administration made a payment "in the $100 million range" to F-16 manufactures Lockheed Martin Corp after it became clear the firm would otherwise fire workers involved in the project, he said. The next payment is due in October and the administration is working with Congress to try to resolve the issue by the end of this month, Boucher said. "We don't want to go ahead without some kind of understanding on the part of Congress."
A Congressional aide, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said appropriating subcommittees in Congress were entitled to request a 'hold' on re-programming funds and this had been done on the F-16 upgrades. However, he said this was not legally binding. It was 'atypical' for a government agency to go ahead with re-directing money over the objections of the chair of the relevant committees in Congress, the aide said.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/17/2008
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#1
Nothin Pakland, you Get Nothing exceptin a bullet in the head.
Posted by: Red Dawg ||
09/17/2008 1:42
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#2
The Bush administration expects an uphill battle in Congress for permission to use counterterrorism funds to upgrade Pakistan's F-16 fighters
#3
The F-16 upgrade was badly needed, he said, and would give Pakistan a more effective counterterrorism tool
What kind of bullshit is this? They're just stealing money from a good program in order to put it in the pockets of defense contractors. Wonderful, now we have fewer funds to fight terrorism. Thanks, zoomies!@
#4
I was told that helicopters are much better than F16s for counterinsurgency, unless there is a good reason (like high altitude in some zones of the Taliban territory) why is Pakistan getting such fine fighters?
#5
Why not throw in a few nuclear weapons while they are at it. You never know, they might have loaned what they have to their friends, Al Qaeda. Can't have India thinking they are not still big dicks, and besides a new round of jizya must be about due.
#6
I am all for cutting off all aid to Pakistan. All of it, military, USAID, any other funding they are gettnig for ANY reason. It is insanity to arm and fund an enemy state, which is what I now believe Pakistan has become.
Posted by: Whiskey Mike ||
09/17/2008 7:11
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#7
What kind of bullshit is this?
The kind that keeps the supply lines to Afghanistan open. Until we get out of Afghanistan, we are going to pay whatever tribute tolls Pakistan demands for use of its lines of communication. Grin and bear it.
#9
I'm afraid NS is right. However, if Pakland starts firing on our guys when we go after terrorists on a regular basis, expect this deal to go south. If Pakland starts falling apart, expect seizure of a supply corridor by the US.
#11
We're not cutting off aid to the Paks so long as our principal supply line to Afghanistan runs through the Khyber Pass. Think, people.
Posted by: Steve White ||
09/17/2008 11:35
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#12
Not unless we want to occupy that supply route. Its a hell of a big step. But its also a cut right through the middle of the bad guys areas, so on the bright side, the supplies only need to go part way.
#13
I'll bet the war games on this are fun. It's hard to see us doing that without getting manpower assistance from, say, India. It's hard to see that happening without this devolving into a religious war with India caught in a two front war. At least they'd have the internal lines of communication. But it would still not be fun.
Obama would be stupid enough to get us into something like that. I prefer legallizing drugs, declaring victory in A-stan, and withdrawing. No matter what, it won't be pretty.
#15
Basically, we would have to occupy 1/3 of Pakistan. Even if we tried to use India as a port supply route, no road runs through the mountains to Afghanistan that we could use. We would have to take the Northern portion of Pakland to make it work.
Basically, there are no real good options unless we want to move the troops from Iraq to Pakistan and engage in another 10 years of nation building.
The Taliban have agreed to abide by a peace agreement with the Ahmedzai Wazir tribes in South Waziristan, and to defer attacks on the government forces in retaliation for US drone attacks against suspected Al Qaeda terrorists and Taliban, a tribal source said on Tuesday.
"There have been successful talks with senior Taliban leaders and we have won their backing for the peace agreement until the end of Ramazan," a tribal elder told Daily Times by phone from Wana, the headquarters of South Waziristan.
He said a jirga of Ahmedzai Wazir elders had met the Taliban leaders in Wana on Monday. The Wazirs had made the peace agreement in March 2007 after the ouster of Uzbek militants from Wana.
Revenge: "We have told the Taliban that Pakistan can do little to stop drone attacks and they should take revenge from the US if they wish so and not from the Pakistani forces," the tribesman said.
"It was decided in the meeting that the Taliban will take no action against the army at least until the end of Ramazan. We will meet again after Ramazan to discuss the situation as the Ahmedzai Wazirs do not want peace to be disturbed," the Wazir elder said.
A grand jirga of the Ahmedzai Wazirs will meet in Wana today (Wednesday) to take up the issue of continued drone attacks.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/17/2008
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#1
The Ahmedzai Wazir tribes wanna Peace Deal but they ain't gonna get one.
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
09/17/2008 18:05
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Crude oil prices plunged again today, falling below $91 a barrel at one point this morning as traders and investors worried about lower oil demand from a weakened economy and the prospect that troubled financial firms would curtail oil trading or liquidate positions. The dip in prices follows a 5.4 percent drop yesterday that brought the cost of oil below $100 a barrel for first time since Feb. 15.
Early this morning, oil prices fell to $90.83 on the New York Mercantile Exchange, although they crept back up as the morning advanced. It settled today at $91.15 a barrel. Crude oil prices on the New York Mercantile Exchange fell $5.47, to $95.71 a barrel yesterday, continuing a two-month retreat. The prices of other commodities also fell but much more modestly.
The price drop is tied to the tumult on Wall Street. "The fear is that the sharp deterioration of the banking crisis in the U.S. will spread to the real economy and demand for oil," Carsten Fritsch, a Commerzbank AG analyst in Frankfurt, told Bloomberg News.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Steve White ||
09/17/2008
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#1
The bottom of the bear approaches! The more bad news the better!
And we're not finished hearing about Legman, unfortunately. They have some tax troubles and will have a starring roll in a Senate investigation.
Posted by: Mike N. ||
09/17/2008 0:44
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#2
I wonder how many of these investment firms are having troubles because of the drop in commodities, especially oil?
I've wondered for a while but this is the first mention I have seen. Someone had to lose when they dropped and perhaps now we know who.
#3
I suspect most of these firms bought commodities while they where still very low and kept purchasing on the way up in some cases. However, they've been selling on the way down, so I suspect even at these prices they're still in the black.
Posted by: Mike N. ||
09/17/2008 1:11
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#4
I wonder how many of these investment firms are having troubles because of the drop in commodities, especially oil?
I'm wondering how much of the drop in oil prices is due to the fact that these guys have financial problems.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/17/2008 9:46
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#5
There were people running around writing articles about why we shouldn't blame the traders and hedge funds for the price of oil a few months ago.
Liars, every one of them. The price is sinking fast in the same world of hurricanes and political turmoil. It was them all along, and I think they are finally getting what they have coming to them.
Also lower demand because tankers could not get to/refineries could not take crude on the Gulf Coast. Tankers could sometimes divert loads elsewhere, but would have to undercut previous supplies to make the sales. But it beats driving around in circles burning money.
#7
The problem with the hedge funds is that they weren't hedging. Hedge Fund became a code word for very risky (but potentially profitable) transactions.
Posted by: Frozen Al ||
09/17/2008 11:44
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#8
I can't wait for Congress to investigate what they created and treated with no oversight. Bring it on Barney and Chris - you weasels. What we need is a special prosecutor to look into Frank and Dodd and their relationships with Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, Countrywide and the thing called Community Development Act.
Posted by: Jack is Back! ||
09/17/2008 12:22
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(AKI) - Kuwait is afraid that Iran has secret plans to produce nuclear arms at the Bushehr nuclear reactor in the country's southwest and elsewhere in the country, according to the head of a leading think-tank.
Sami Al-Faraj, president of the Kuwait Centre for Strategic Studies, told Adnkronos International (AKI) on Tuesday that the country "was living in fear" about Tehran's nuclear plans. He said Kuwaitis also had serious concerns about the potential impact of a radiation leak or an earthquake in the area surrounding the Bushehr nuclear plant, which is only 200 kilometres from Kuwait.
"We would be the first city to be hit as a result of the impact if anything goes wrong at Bushehr," Al-Faraj told AKI. "People say that there is no need for us to to suffer from Bushehr. The greater problem is that something will go wrong. We are under threat. The situation is dangerous"
"We have 17 monitoring stations and all these stations have extra equipment for monitoring radiation.Unless this problem is dealt with scientifically, we will remain in danger."
Media reports on Monday claimed that Iran's Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, reportedly has a secret plan to accelerate nuclear arms production by simulating a breakdown at the nuclear reactor of Bushehr. According to a memorandum circulated among intelligence services and cited in the Italian daily, La Stampa, the plan was developed after Israeli defence forces struck a suspected nuclear facility in northern Syria in September 2007.
Al-Faraj said many people in Kuwait were preoccupied by the threat from Iran. "Iran today is intervening in the affairs of Arab nations next to us - Iraq, Lebanon, Syria and Palestine," he said. "So we always ask the rhetorical question, 'Imagine if Iran were to be a nuclear power, what would Iran do.'
"If it is a conventional power and intervening in nations and trying to change the loyalties of Arab states, like Kuwait, Saudia Arabia and Bahrain, can we imagine what Iraq could do if it possessed a nuclear weapon.
"We cannot even imagine and we cannot imagine the international community letting Iran get away with this."
Al-Faraj said the other threat was conflict between Iran and Israel if a nuclear Iran does not materialise and Kuwait is caught in a crossfire. "We would be in the middle of two nations exchanging missiles," he said. "I am giving you a doomsday scenario but we cannot live without expecting a worst case scenario."
Posted by: Fred ||
09/17/2008
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Pro-rebel Tamilnet.com website, said that LTTE fighters had again beaten back a government assault in Kilinochchi district on Monday, killing 22 soldiers and wounding 53.
Tamil Tiger rebels set off a powerful bomb inside a public bus in the Sri Lankan capital yesterday, after Sri Lanka's president said his troops are on track to capture the rebel's northern capital. Four people were slightly hurt in the bombing and casualties were low because passengers had spotted a suspicious parcel and evacuated shortly before the explosion, military spokesman Brigadier Udaya Nanayakkara told AFP.
The force of the explosion shook buildings in the city centre, where security is tight because of fears of attacks by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). "No doubt this explosion marks another LTTE attempt to cause mayhem in the island's capital, targeting innocent civilians, when it is facing fierce assaults by the security forces," the defence ministry said in a statement.
There was no immediate comment on the attack from the LTTE, blamed for a string of bomb attacks against public transport in recent months and currently on the defensive in the north.
The bombing came as the island's government, which pulled out of a Norwegian-brokered truce with the rebels in January, said it was on track to capture the rebels' political capital Kilinochchi by the end of the year.
Speaking to reporters late Monday, Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse ruled out a new ceasefire and said troops were advancing "very satisfactorily." "I am happy. The military has made a lot of gains," he told members of the Foreign Correspondents' Association of Sri Lanka. "We will hopefully take Kilinochchi by December. The rest (of the north) as soon as possible. I can't give an exact time frame," he said.
The pro-rebel Tamilnet.com website, however, said Tuesday that LTTE fighters had again beaten back a government assault in Kilinochchi district on Monday, killing 22 soldiers and wounding 53.
However, the ministry said 18 rebels and three soldiers were killed on Monday, during fierce gun battles in the north. As the government steps up its offensive, it has also ordered aid workers to leave the north because it cannot guarantee their security.
The LTTE has warned of a "humanitarian crisis," and hundreds of civilians have been preventing UN aid staff from leaving.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/17/2008
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Iran's envoy to the IAEA urges the US to concede the 'realities' of Iran's nuclear program and respect Tehran's cooperation with the UN nuclear body. "The US and Western countries have to cope with new realities: that Iran is the master of nuclear enrichment technology and at the same time Iran is cooperating with the agency," Ali-Asghar Soltaniyeh told Press TV in a live program aired on Tuesday.
The Vienna-based diplomat expressed dismay over the UN Security Council sanctions against Iran for its nuclear program. "We have disappointed the UN Security Council sanctions but we have not taken revenge from the agency by withdrawing from the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT)."
Soltaniyeh said Iran's transparent cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency and its readiness for negotiations about its nuclear program without any precondition has "disarmed the US administration".
"Iran has spared no effort to prove to the world" that it is "determined to sit at the negotiations table without any precondition."
He said currently there are negotiations between Iran's chief nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili and EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana. He said that the US officials will further isolate themselves if they refuse to accept Iran's nuclear realities.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/17/2008
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#1
WORLD FORUM OP-EDS [paraph]> RUSSIAN MEDIA: WILL CHINA HELP RUSSIA RESIST THE USA IN RUSSIA'S FAR EAST. Russia desires Chinese assistance in econ developing its RFE, as it desires to use same = NORTH PACIFIC-ASIA + ASIA-PACIFIC TO VALIDATE ITS WORLD POWER STATUS AGZ US-ALLIES; + WHOM IS CAUING INSTABILITY AND CHAOS ALONG CHINA'S BORDERS IN CENTRAL ASIA. Iff necessary, CHINA must be willing to use MILITARY FORCE to intervene in KAZAKHISTAN, TURKIMENISTAN, etc. to ensure National and Econ Stability.; + RETIRED INDIAN GENERAL: INDIA IN CASE OF SINO-INDIAN WAR MUST USE AIRCRAFT CARRIERS, NUCLEAR SUBMARINES TO DENY STRAITS OF MALACCAS TO CHINA AND CUT OFF CHINA'S OIL-FUELS SUPPLIES. The Malaccas is a strategic trade route and thus a debilitating strstegic weakness for China, and a likely realistic "hotspot" for milpol conflict bwtn India and China, the latter of which recognizes the threat and is covertly trying to remedy its situation by building alternative, dual-use major ports in Gwadar, Pakistan and Myanmar, etc. plus overland Asian pipeline networks, in an ALLEGED "SLOW SIEGE OF INDIA"; + ANALYSTS: SEVERE DISCONTENT IS SPREADING IN NORTH KOREA. KIM SLOWLY LOSING LOYALTY OF NORTH KOREAN MILITARY DUE TO LONG-STANDING SEVERE FOOD CRISES + US, SOUTH KOREA PREPARING TO ENTER NORTH KOREA AS PER ITS CONCEPT PLAN 5029.
(SomaliNet) Police said that a bicycle-laden with explosives killed two civilians and wounded 19 others at a busy market north of Baghdad on Tuesday. Some of the wounded are badly hurt. A police officer said the bicycle was left near an Iraqi military truck parked at the main market in Taji town, north of Baghdad. The officer said that soldiers who had arrived in the truck were patrolling the market on foot when the blast went off. The truck was badly damaged by the blast.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/17/2008
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#1
The only reason I clicked on this story was to get a look at that pic of the Jihadi doing donuts on a dirtbike.
Posted by: Mike N. ||
09/17/2008 0:40
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(SomaliNet) A Kenyan maritime body said on Sunday that a large Panama-flagged oil tanker operated by a Japanese company had narrowly escaped an attack by Somali pirates. "A Panama-flagged oil tanker, MT Golden Elizabeth, was attacked yesterday (Sunday) by eight pirates in a small wooden boat in the Gulf of Aden," said Andrew Mwangura, of the Kenyan branch of the Seafarers' Assistance Programme. "The tanker took evasive navigation and the pirates aborted the attack. No casualty was reported," he said, adding that the tanker was continuing its journey and communicating with the US navy. Mwangura said 13 Filipino crew were on board the tanker.
Somali pirates are holding several ships in the area. In recent months, a multinational taskforce based in Djibouti has been patrolling parts of the Gulf of Aden and the Red Sea, where a pirate mothership is believed to be operating.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/17/2008
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#1
One guy with fairly modest weaponry and training should have no trouble defending a big ship against a small wooden boat with 8 pirates. For that matter, don't 'evade', engage and make them evade and crush their little bathtub toy if you can.
Syria says it 'will stand with Iran' amid speculations that Damascus may cut ties with Iran as it is engaged in indirect talks with Israel. Syria will stand with Iran on all the major strategic issues," President Bashar al-Assad said in an interview with Syria's Channel 10 broadcast on Tuesday.
"Only one situation would distance Syria from Iran, and that is if Tehran sided with Israel, and if America sided with the Arabs," the Jerusalem Post quoted the Syrian president as saying.
Assad also downplayed the recent indirect talks between Israel and Syria, insisting that the term "negotiations" is just too strong for such talks. "What's happening today is not negotiation, but they are called 'negotiations' in the media," the Syrian president told the interviewer.
Assad's coments come as Israel has recently stepped up efforts to persuade Damascus to cut its ties with Iran. Recently, Israel's Ambassador to the US, Sallai Meridor, declared that the main reason that his government began indirect talks with Syria earlier this year was to "bring about a strategic repositioning" in the region by breaking up Damascus' alliance with Iran.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/17/2008
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#1
Is this one of those before-we-switch-sides-we-make-an-ademant-denial denials? I thought so.
Posted by: Richard of Oregon ||
09/17/2008 11:48
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#2
'Syria will stand with Iran'
Then Syria will fall with Iran.
(AKI/DAWN) - Twenty-four militants and two civilians were killed in clashes between security forces and militants in the Bajaur tribal region in northwestern Pakistan. Twenty-eight people were injured. Security forces, backed by helicopter gunships and artillery, targeted militants' positions in a whole bunch of places you've never heard of Lowi Sam, Tang Hatta, Rashakai, Jannat Shah, Dozakh Shah, Tandar Gat, Kerala, Baicheena, Tangai and Khazana.
Sources said that the troops faced stiff resistance from the deeply entrenched militants. The air strikes continued throughout the day.
Pakistani military officials claimed to have destroyed militants' hideouts in Kerala, Rashakai, Tang Hatta, Jannat Shah and other areas. The sources, however, said that security forces stationed in Lowi Sam were finding it difficult to locate militants' positions and dislodge them from there.
Reports of pitched battles have been received from some areas.
A curfew in place was relaxed in several areas of Khar and Utmankhel tehsils from 7am to 2pm on Monday. A large number of people thronged the markets to buy essential food items. However, in Siddiqabad, Tawheedabad, Shandi Mor, Bilalabad and some other areas, the 12-day curfew remained in force.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/17/2008
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(AKI) - By Syed Saleem Shahzad - The Taliban has claimed responsibility for a suicide attack in northwest Pakistan that killed at least ten people on Tuesday.
The attack occurred in a military camp in Tota Bandi, in the volatile Swat Valley. Initial reports suggested that over 300 military personnel were in a school building they were using as a base, when the attack was carried out. It took place only a day after local tribes and militants had agreed on a ceasefire.
The suicide attacker was reported to have entered the site and blown himself up as militants opened the fire on the school and also fired mortar shells.
The suicide attack occurred as British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said both Pakistan and Britain were facing the menace of terrorism. Gordon Brown met Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari here in London on his first official visit as head of state. The president was accompanied by Interior Advisor Rehman Malik and Pakistani High Commissioner to the UK, Wajid Shamsul Hassan.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/17/2008
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Tribal elders, religious scholars and influential people from Khyber Agency have warned of blocking logistic supplies for United States and NATO troops stationed in Afghanistan if they continued attacking villages in the tribal belt. "Only civilians are being killed and maimed in unwarranted attacks from across the border while those wanted to the US have stayed unscathed so far," said elders from the Kooki Khel tribe of the agency connecting Peshawar with Afghanistan.
Speaking at a news conference on Tuesday, tribal elders Malik Israrullah, Taj Mahal advocate, Malik Juma Gul and Haji Barak praised the government's stance after the recent US airstrikes in the Tribal Areas. They said they were encouraged by the army chief's statement that the country's sovereignty would be protected at all cost.
The Kooki Khel tribe inhabits Jamrud and parts of Landi Kotal sub-division of Khyber Agency. Most food and other logistic supplies destined for the US and NATO bases in Afghanistan are transported through this mountainous route leading from Peshawar to Torkham. The tribesmen did not give a specific deadline for the blockade of the route. "We shall look towards the government before setting a deadline," said Israrullah.
About their earlier demand of army withdrawal from the Tribal Areas, Haji Barak said the situation had changed with the arrival of an elected government. Taj Mahal advocate said the elders would make the Tribal Areas a graveyard of American troops if the US forces attacked Pakistani territories.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/17/2008
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#1
So what does the new Pak government do? If they back the tribesmen they risk war with us and almost certainly lose power internally. If they side with us, they'll need to help protect supply routes. This brings the Khyber maniacs directly down on their heads. What to do? Either course threanens their hold on power. Maybe they could use an Obama strategy and just vote present.
Posted by: Richard of Oregon ||
09/17/2008 11:44
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Syria named its first ambassador to Iraq since the 1980s on Tuesday, two years after the two countries restored diplomatic ties, according to the state-run news agency. SANA said Nawaf Fares, a ruling party apparatchik, took the oath as ambassador to Baghdad in front of President Bashar al-Assad.
Iraq has not yet named an ambassador to Damascus. Syria and Iraq restored diplomatic relations in November 2006, ending a 24-year break that followed charges by the Damascus government that Iraq incited riots in Syria in 1982 by members of the banned Muslim Brotherhood. But relations between Syria and neighboring Iraq remain tense, with the U.S.-backed Iraqi government accusing Syria of allowing anti-U.S rebels to infiltrate the borders.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/17/2008
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(PTI) Amid the growing Pak-US rift over cross-border raids from Afghanistan, Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari today sought British Premier Gordon Brown's help in easing the situation by prevailing over Washington. Zardari, who is on a private visit to the UK for his daughter Bakhtawar's University admission, was received at 10, Downing Street by the British Prime Minister.
During the meeting between the two leaders, Zardari appealed to Brown for help in persuading President George W Bush that continuing attacks into Pakistan by the US-led forces from Afghanistan would only inflame the situation.
Zardari would visit New York later this month to attend the UN General Assembly, where he is expected to call for new thinking on Afghanistan and an international conference on the terrorism.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/17/2008
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Malaysia's opposition alliance claimed on Tuesday that it had enough support in parliament to oust the government, but Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi rejected the declaration and accused the opposition of "political lies." "We have enough strength to form the government.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/17/2008
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(AKI) - Eleven Palestinian were killed on Tuesday when forces loyal to the Islamist movement Hamas clashed with the Doghmush clan in the Gaza Strip.
The clashes between the groups reportedly began on Monday after a member of the Doghmush family killed a Hamas policeman and wounded another officer when police tried to arrest him in Gaza. "The security campaign operated in the As-Sabra neighbourhood in Gaza City caused the death of three wanted persons from the Doghmush family in addition to a policeman and a number of injuries," said Islam Shahwan, spokesperson of the Hamas security forces in Gaza, quoted by the Palestinian news agency, Maan. The other nine people killed were all alleged members of the Doghmush clan, reported Maan.
According to Hamas, the clan is allegedly affiliated with the pro Al-Qaeda group, Army of Islam, and one of its members was among the ten killed in the gun battle. Army of Islam was allegedly responsible for the abduction of BBC reporter Alan Johnston in 2007 and Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit in 2006. Shalit still remains in captivity.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/17/2008
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The Swat Taliban have agreed to leave Kooza Bandai following a deal brokered with a peace jirga on Tuesday. Talking to reporters, peace jirga head Syed Inamur Rehman said security forces would also vacate the area after clearing mines and remote controlled explosives. The jirga has also requested security forces and the Taliban to cease fire for 24 hours. The agreement came a day after the Taliban released 25 Frontier Corps personnel. However, Inter Services Public Relations spokesman Major Nadeem denied any ceasefire with the Taliban, saying that the deal was between the Taliban and the local jirga. "The military has no concern with the ceasefire agreement between the Taliban and the jirga," he said. Meanwhile, the Taliban fired two rockets at the Frontier House in Kabal tehsil as security forces continued shelling local Taliban hideouts. Security forces have handed over bodies of four people killed in clashes between security forces and the Taliban in Kooza Bandai. A curfew break up to 7pm has been announced in the district, except Kabal tehsil and the Kanjo Bridge area.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/17/2008
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#1
Let me get this straight,
If the "Seurity Forces" leave first, then and only then will the Taliban "Cease fire"?
Only an idiot would fall for this ploy?
(or is that the whole idea?)
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
09/17/2008 18:18
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#2
there's enough winking and blinking going on to exceed Nancy Pelosi at the last State Of The Union speech
Posted by: Frank G ||
09/17/2008 19:27
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Hurricane Ike appears to have damaged about 10 oil platforms in the Gulf of Mexico, US officials said Sunday, raising concerns that the storm could hurt oil production and lead to a spike in prices at US gas stations.
Eileen Angelico, a spokeswoman with the US Mineral Management Service (MMS), told AFP that officials were only able to make a rough estimate of the number of damaged platforms based on "flyovers" of the area, which has some 3,800 oil platforms.
"We expect (the number of) damaged platforms to be around 10," she said, adding that the reports of damage at this point are "preliminary." "We don't know yet the extent of this damage," she said.
The MMS said that Hurricane Katrina in 2005 ravaged 44 platforms, while Hurricane Rita which struck the Gulf Coast oil installations later that same year damaged 64 platforms.
Ike hammered the oil hub early Saturday, apparently impairing US oil production as it stranded thousands of people and caused billions of dollars in damage.
#2
That must have been the East Tennessee Ten that got damaged. that would explain why the price of gas went up here about $1.50 /gal the day before Ike made landfall.
#3
Ike destroyed about 28 platforms - 10 of our company alone. But they were all older facilities with fairly modest production - perhaps 1000 barrels per day per platform, average. It is likely this production is permanently lost however, because the total reserves still potentially recoverable in those reservoirs are not sufficient to pay for expensive new platforms and wells.
Three drilling rigs were destroyed and several others severely damaged.
At least one pipeline was damaged, but many more must be tested before they can be put on production again. Fields off eastern Louisiana mostly had only minor damage and are being restored to production - this oil should start reaching shore in a week or so. It will take longer to assess damage and make repairs to the platforms and pipelines off western Louisiana though.
#4
BrerRabbit,
Check the 'Colonial Pipeline' to understand more about why shortages (and price hikes) were where they were/are. It collects refined products from plants along the Gulf Coast and transports them up through Georgia and the Carolinas, with branches to Chattanooga and Knoxville. Gustav cut power to a number of the pumping stations and just as it was getting back on line Ike took the supplying refineries off (as well as cutting pump power again). I don't know if it is back on line yet (certainly the western part is not, but feed-ins from some Mississippi River plants may be underway.) Combine that with a large surge in demand from evacuating people. Add in the fact that the distributors were drawing down their more expensive summer blend stocks to make room for the winter blends (which were just starting to come in) and you are guaranteed spot shortages. Add in panic buying and you get widespread outages (understand that the total storage volume of refined gasoline in the entire system is less than the empty space in America's vehicle's gas tanks under normal conditions - or so I have been told).
I know of one distributor in East Tennessee who was low but not out and had set their sales price at $4.99. After being threatened with gouging prosecutions they dropped it to $4.49, sold out in hours, and closed down indefinitely. So customers who got the gas are less unhappy, but others who did not can't even get to work now, and people who were on vacation sit stranded - they would have been less unhappy to have paid the $4.99. So it goes. Should shake out in a few more weeks, I believe.
The destruction of a suspected Syrian nuclear reactor last year was the result of an intelligence collaboration that included a "foreign partner" who first identified the facility's purpose, CIA Director Gen. Michael Hayden said on Tuesday.
The reactor at the desert outpost of Al-Kibar was flattened in an air strike on September 6, 2007 that senior U.S. intelligence officials have said was carried out by Israel on its own initiative. "Our foreign partnerships ... were critical to the final outcome," Hayden said in a speech for delivery to the World Affairs Council of Los Angeles.
A U.S. intelligence official declined to specify the partner Hayden referred to or to say whether it was Israel. He said there have been no signs that Syria was trying to replace the destroyed reactor.
Israel has never given an account of the strike or formally confirmed that it took place and some Israeli officials have quietly voiced dismay at U.S. disclosures about the strike.
"We were able last year to spoil a big secret, a project that could have provided Syria with plutonium for nuclear weapons," Hayden said. Hayden said a report from the unnamed foreign partner first identified the facility as a reactor similar to one in North Korea, although U.S. intelligence had identified it as suspicious.
"When pipes for a massive cooling system were laid out to the Euphrates River in the spring of 2007, there would have been little doubt this was a nuclear reactor," Hayden said. "We would have known it was North Korean, too, given the quantity and variety of intelligence reports on nuclear ties between Pyongyang and Damascus."
Posted by: Fred ||
09/17/2008
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#7
Yes, it's nice to know some people are taking Israel's best interests at heart, as the current leadership and I'd guess a sizeable part of the israeli people seem bent on national suicide. So, yes, it's nice to have the USA covering Israel's back, and I think you're very wrong in blaming the wrong direction your country is headed to onto the USA and its influence on you. Just like the "eurocentered" french nationalists and the rabid antiamericans of all stripe, it's a scapegoat; your (and our) troubles are all SELF-CREATED. You should be more self-critical, and lay off the snark against the yanks a bit, too.
#9
Thanks, A5089. Gromgoru does blame the U.S. for a lot of Israel's problems that Israel has brought on itself, usually by failing to act decisively.
It's not America's fault that Israel didn't take out Hezb when it had the chance. We kept the UN off their necks for six weeks while they dithered and blew a God-given chance to eliminate those scum. I will be deeply saddened if Israel succumbs to those 7th Century morons attacking it but I'll know exactly where the blame lies and it won't be with the U.S.
South Korea's largest home appliance maker LG Electronics said Tuesday it has released a new television in Middle Eastern markets which includes the Quran installed as a digital text. The model comes in 42 and 50-inch panels and lets viewers read all 114 chapters of the Islamic holy book on screen by controlling its menu, LG said in a statement.
The television, which also comes with a 160-gigabyte hard drive to store pr0n video content, allows users to bookmark up to 10 spots within the religious text. "We came up with the model after realizing that faithful Muslims read the Quran on a daily basis," said Park Jong-Seok, vice president of LG's plasma display panel division.
Last year LG said it aimed to post six billion dollars in sales of home appliances in Middle Eastern and African countries by 2010 by providing products that will appeal more to local consumers.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/17/2008
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#1
will the warranty cover it if it blows itself up?
#3
Tick, tick, tick... waiting for some Imam to find a tiny error. The Ummah takes umbrage and the Muslims, feeling insulted, take out their rage on LG. There will not be any product left for Excalibur to boycott.
#4
does it have a picture in a picture feature? you could have p)rn on the big screen and the Quran on the little one; think of it as a play by play caption feature. that should drive the turbans crazy.
(Did big mo have one of these things bak when?
(VOI) -- A tribal chief of al-Izza clan was killed by a pillaging gang near al-Adhim area, al-Khalist district, 15 km north of the city of Baaquba, on Tuesday, a security source in Diala province said. "A robbing and pillaging gang intercepted a vehicle that boarded Sheikh Omar Raddam Keitan on the main road in the village of al-Safra, al-Adhim area, al-Khalis, killing him and wounding a relative of his," the source, who refused to have his name mentioned, told Aswat al-Iraq -- Voices of Iraq -- (VOI).
"The gang intercepted the vehicle but it did not stop. The gunmen opened fire and killed Sheikh Keitan and wounded his relative," the source added. The road leading to al-Adhim district in Diala province has been witnessing plunder operations and improvised explosive device (IED) attacks in addition to kidnappings and assassinations.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/17/2008
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General Ray Odierno took command of U.S.-led forces in Iraq on Tuesday, faced with the challenge of ensuring security gains do not unravel at a time when American troop levels are being reduced.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/17/2008
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(VOI) -- Iraqi army forces on Tuesday arrested a leader of what is called the Islamic State in Iraq armed group in Talafar in Ninewa, a security source said. "The army forces arrested the leader in Hasanko region in northern Talafar in west of Mosul," the source, who asked for anonymity, told Aswat al-Iraq - Voices of Iraq - (VOI). "The operation was based on intelligence information that indicates his presence inside a house in the region," he added, pointing out that he played the main role in several acts of violence in the region," he also said.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/17/2008
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Top|| File under: Islamic State of Iraq
As rumors swirl around campus about whom might be protesting on campus during the debate, the Mississippi White Knights of the Ku Klux Klan confirmed they will be here, but not as demonstrators.
The Klansmen will be "invisible," trying to blend in just as anyone else, the emperor of the MWK said in an e-mail. The emperor wrote, "The Mississippi White Knights will have officers and Klansmen on hand for the presidential debate on September 26, 2008. Our people will be in Oxford and on the campus 'invisible.' That means our people won't be in regalia or demonstrating. So, I guess you'll just have to guess which of the people present are Klansmen.
"Please feel free to contact me if you have any other questions about the Mississippi White Knights. "....not that we'll answer them or anything. (see below)"
'NON SILBA SED ANTHAR'
Emperor, Mississippi White Knights of the Ku Klux Klan."
The e-mail came from the address, emperor@mississippiwhiteknights.com, but the sender would not identify himself nor respond to more questions.
The Latin words, "Non silba sed anthar," translate to: "Not for oneself but for others," a motto the Klan has used since the 19th century.
Executive assistant to the Chancellor Andy Mullins heard the rumors three weeks ago but said Thursday that no one had applied for a permit to demonstrate.
However, groups who want to protest on debate day will not have to apply for permits with the university, Vice Chancellor for University Relations Gloria Kellum, said. The U.S. Secret Service has designated the band practice field behind the Music Building, formally Scruggs Hall, for those who want to stage protests, Kellum said.
The university is entirely a "free-speech zone," but people are encouraged to go to "speakers corners" to talk, university attorney Lee Tyner said. The corners are located at the flagpole in the Circle and in the area between the Union and the Grove.
#1
So there is no story here other than the media whipped up a Klan boogey man. They didn't pull permits, they won't be demonstrating, and we don't even know how many followers (if any) this guy has. But the invisible boogeyman will be there. Be afraid, be very afraid.
#2
Sooo, if I'm reading this correctly, there's going to be some racists there, but they won't be telling anyome they are?
Same could be said for just about any meeting anywhere. Hell, I bet Obama has given speeches at union meetings with more racists.
Posted by: Mike N. ||
09/17/2008 0:58
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#3
Really, really off topic, ----
Betty -- I just want to be sure -- that you get credit for that dropping of the ATodd bomb comment yesterday!
The other day in CO -- Sarah used some sentence in which she said, "guys and gals," the audience responded loudly to that.
Now, the guys have Sarah, the gals have First Dude. He really doesn't like First Dude, Greta questioned him pretty good on that, wants Todd -- he ain't gonna git his wish!
The High Court (HC) yesterday granted three months' ad interim bail to Awami League (AL) President Sheikh Hasina and her cousin Sheikh Fazlul Karim Selim in the extortion case filed by businessman Azam J Chowdhury.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/17/2008
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The family of a Saudi man who died in the custody of religious police after being apprehended on suspicion of alcohol possession were left un-vindicated Tuesday when an appeals court refused to find the officers guilty of murder.
The Saudi Court of Appeals endorsed a lower court's verdict acquitting two officers from the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice of homicide in a lawsuit filed by the family of the man who died in detention.
Salam al-Harisi, 28, died last year after being detained by the Commission for alleged alcohol possession. The coroner's report stated that the cause of death was a severe beating to the head that caused a six centimeter crack in his skull. His right eye was gouged out and he received another severe blow to the head.
Harisi's family accused the two officers of killing the detained man but an initial court ruling found them not guilty and they were acquitted. The lawyer for the Harisi family, Abdul-Rahman al-Laham, filed an appeal in June to protest the initial verdict that acquitted the two officers.
The appeal was based on a 1984 anti-torture treaty, to which Saudi Arabia is a signatory. Laham said that Harisi's case should be treated as an incident of torture and thus requires a severe penalty. The lawyer argued that the treaty should apply to the officers since they committed the offence while at work in their government jobs.
Laham added that article two of the treaty stipulates that every country should take all the necessary judicial and penal measures to prevent torture.
The Appeals court disagreed, reasoning in its verdict that the head is not a fatal body part and that the hand is not a weapon and that therefore the conditions of homicide do not apply.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/17/2008
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#1
The Appeals court disagreed, reasoning in its verdict that the head is not a fatal body part
Are they born stupid or does all that oil wealth
just let them buy stupidity easily?
That implies that they cracked this guys skull with their fists. Fat. Fucking. Chance.
The WoT is going to take a century or more.
Posted by: Mike N. ||
09/17/2008 1:07
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#3
It's not about the reasoning - the court just went and found a paper-thin excuse. The real reason is that they didn't want to find the police guilty...after all, they were just enforcing Allah's law, and if the man didn't have alcohol, then he wouldn't have been in jail, eh?
Thousands of Hamas members voted in a secret internal ballot in the Gaza Strip that re-elected the Islamist group's most prominent leaders to its highest bodies and signaled no change in policy. "The election showed the wonderful face of democracy within Hamas. It was carried out smoothly," a Hamas official said about last month's vote, citing security considerations for the decision to keep it secret.
Officials in the group said some veteran leaders had lost seats on the Shura Council to younger candidates but senior figures Ismail Haniyeh, Mahmoud al-Zahar and Saeed Seyam were re-elected to the policy-setting body and to the politburo. The three are Hamas's top leaders in the Gaza Strip, territory the movement seized in fighting against Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah forces in June 2007.
Several members of Hamas's armed wing, the Izz el-Deen al-Qassam Brigades, were elected to the politburo, which executes policy and strategy decided by the Shura Council.
In Hamas, candidates do not actively seek nomination but their names are put forward by activists or mosques in their hometowns. Hamas last held an internal ballot in 2006 before it won a Palestinian parliamentary election that year in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank.
The Hamas official said the group's priorities remained an end to divisions with Fatah and a continuation of "resistance" against Israel, which tightened a blockade of the Gaza Strip after the 2007 takeover of the territory. Despite its declared policy of continuing to fight Israel, Hamas agreed to a ceasefire along the Gaza border in June and has said it would accept a Palestinian state in lands captured by Israeli forces in a war in return for a long-term truce.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/17/2008
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#1
But I thought elections were not Islamic? Surely Allah will point out His preferred leaders, if only they ask properly, which I believe is traditionally done by survival of the best at assassin's knives and poisons.
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
JERUSALEM (AP) - TV exit polls say Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni has won a clear victory in the party primary election to replace Prime Minister Ehud Olmert.
A French retailer has withdrawn from sale Chinese-made sofas and armchairs after hundreds of buyers said they developed a painful rash from them, Agence France-Presse reported.
On the heels of blasting John McCain's selection of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin as his running mate, Lindsay Lohan reportedly got a bit of a jolt from an unexpected quarter: the Obama-Biden campaign. Apparently, LiLo was interested in becoming very involved in the Democratic ticket's bid for the White House -- even offering to host a series of events appealing to younger voters. 
An $85 billion dollar U.S. lifeline for American International Group gave some respite to battered financial stocks, while the UK's biggest mortgage lender HBOS Plc and Lloyds TSB contemplated a merger which would reshape British banking.
AN explosion has struck near the US embassy in the Yemeni capital Sanaa, two witnesses said. There was no immediate word on any casualties.
Rep. John P. Murtha (D-PA) is an 18th-term member of Congress, representing Pennsylvania's 12th congressional district. Rep. Murtha chairs the Defense Appropriations Subcommittee of the House Appropriations Committee. Rep. Murtha's ethics violations stem from abuse of his position on the subcommittee to benefit the lobbying firm of a former long-term staffer and from threatening to block earmarks of other members for political purposes. Rep. Murtha was included as a member to watch in CREW's 2006 and 2007 reports on congressional corruption.
A front-ranking leader of the outlawed Purba Bangler Communist Party (ML-Lal Pataka) ...
Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman was elected unopposed as chairman of the parliament's Special Committee on Kashmir on Tuesday.
Crude oil prices plunged again today, falling below $91 a barrel at one point this morning as traders and investors worried about lower oil demand from a weakened economy and the prospect that troubled financial firms would curtail oil trading or liquidate positions. The dip in prices follows a 5.4 percent drop yesterday that brought the cost of oil below $100 a barrel for first time since Feb. 15.
(SomaliNet) Police said that a bicycle-laden with explosives killed two civilians and wounded 19 others at a busy market north of Baghdad on Tuesday. Some of the wounded are badly hurt. A police officer said the bicycle was left near an Iraqi military truck parked at the main market in Taji town, north of Baghdad. The officer said that soldiers who had arrived in the truck were patrolling the market on foot when the blast went off. The truck was badly damaged by the blast.
(SomaliNet) A Kenyan maritime body said on Sunday that a large Panama-flagged oil tanker operated by a Japanese company had narrowly escaped an attack by Somali pirates. "A Panama-flagged oil tanker, MT Golden Elizabeth, was attacked yesterday (Sunday) by eight pirates in a small wooden boat in the Gulf of Aden," said Andrew Mwangura, of the Kenyan branch of the Seafarers' Assistance Programme. "The tanker took evasive navigation and the pirates aborted the attack. No casualty was reported," he said, adding that the tanker was continuing its journey and communicating with the US navy. Mwangura said 13 Filipino crew were on board the tanker. 
(AKI) - By Syed Saleem Shahzad - The Taliban has claimed responsibility for a suicide attack in northwest Pakistan that killed at least ten people on Tuesday.
Tribal elders, religious scholars and influential people from Khyber Agency have warned of blocking logistic supplies for United States and NATO troops stationed in Afghanistan if they continued attacking villages in the tribal belt. "Only civilians are being killed and maimed in unwarranted attacks from across the border while those wanted to the US have stayed unscathed so far," said elders from the Kooki Khel tribe of the agency connecting Peshawar with Afghanistan.
(AKI) - Eleven Palestinian were killed on Tuesday when forces loyal to the Islamist movement Hamas clashed with the Doghmush clan in the Gaza Strip.
Hurricane Ike appears to have damaged about 10 oil platforms in the Gulf of Mexico, US officials said Sunday, raising concerns that the storm could hurt oil production and lead to a spike in prices at US gas stations.
As rumors swirl around campus about whom might be protesting on campus during the debate, the Mississippi White Knights of the Ku Klux Klan confirmed they will be here, but not as demonstrators.
